


Be Merry, Sunny

by RavenWingDark



Category: One Piece, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Cyndaquil POV, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Nakamaship, Pokemon on the Strawhat Crew, Whump, baratie arc complete, cocoyashi arc complete, loguetown arc complete, pokefic, reverse mountain arc complete, starts 1pov, starts relatively light and gets a little darker as it progresses, switches to 3pov
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-26
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2020-03-19 17:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 32,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18974884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenWingDark/pseuds/RavenWingDark
Summary: A mysterious Cyndaquil happens upon the Straw Hat Pirates and is taken on the adventure of his lifetime, full of joy and dangers alike.





	1. A Little Cyndaquil

**Author's Note:**

> I'm slowly putting this story up on Ao3 but the newest updates (50k as of this chapter) are on ff.  
> https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13176889/1/Be-Merry-Sunny

The small, blue and cream shrew took tentative steps across the gangplank, stopping halfway to sniff the air. Safe. He scurried across the rest of the distance, keenly aware of the lapping water below him, onto the pirate ship. The deck was empty, so the large, rodent-like creature followed the scent of fruit into the storage area, gnawing hunger fueling him. Island life had never been easy for the poor creature, especially after he'd been on his own.

Usually, the small fire type wouldn't approach a human construct like this without the shade of night, but he was particularly desperate, and he'd seen a few pirates leave the ship earlier.

Quickly, Cyndaquil was able to nose the ajar door open, and hone in on the sweet fragrance of apples and maybe oranges, biscuits and salted meats. He wasted no time in diving in the first burlap sack he saw, and pushed his front paws against it until the sack fell over, scattering a few apples on the ground. He picked them up one by one and started munching on them, then started on the ones on the bag. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a piece fresh fruit without having to run for his life to avoid an angry shopkeeper. Most of his meals were scraps from the trash, that was the only thing he could do to limit the injuries he took from townspeople.

Cyndaquil kept polishing off the apples, one after another, until his head, then shoulders were in the bag, and then until he was swallowed up by the bag, not remembering a time where he had eaten so much, even when he still had his mother. He blinked slowly a few times, let out a sigh, and his eyes fully closed for sleep.

Suddenly, Cyndaquil was aware of movement, tiny trembles across the new floorboards, sending his shrew instincts on tense alert. He'd fallen asleep. And during that time, humans had boarded. He had no way of knowing how many, either, there were so many vibrations and slight movements, it almost made him sick when he tried to parse them out.

His only choice was to wait until he could take a carefully calculated risk in escaping. Hope surprise was on his side, and that they weren't hunters, or that there weren't dogs on their side. His heart beat frantically in his chest.

Several minutes went by, with impacts hitting somewhere outside, and the boat rocking, and Cyndaquil rolled up into a ball and waited it out.

Eventually, the impacts stopped and the fire type was pulled out of his instinct to stay hidden and quiet as he felt the unmistakable taps of human footsteps approaching. The Cyndaquil tensed and peeked out a hole in the burlap at a woman with orange hair, carrying a box of freshly picked limes.

For the eighth time, Cyndaquil lamented that no matter how hungry he had been, he'd been truly foolish to try something so risky.

The woman set down the citrus and headed back to the door. Cyndaquil let out a nearly inaudible sigh. But when she was at the door, she abruptly turned around as if double-taking, then walked over, examining the large hole in the now-more-empty bag.

"Huh?" She stopped in front of the shrew pokemon unknowingly. "What hap-Ahhhh!" The redhead jumped back in surprise as Cyndaquil jumped out of the bag, charging blindly across the room in a panic.

* * *

"A rat!" I heard behind me. _That's a familiar call,_ I thought, _and it never ends well!_

I skirted past her easily with my dash and made my way back to the deck.

"Catch that blue thing!" The girl screeched behind me. On deck I realized there were three more startled humans, as I hurtled up, looking for somewhere to go. _Back the way I came,_ I thought.

"I got it!" said one, running towards me, I sharply turned before his reaching hands could reach me, making to escape, but when I jumped onto the railing, I stopped dead when I realized that we were in the middle of the ocean, a mass of land already a distance away. The tan human took advantage of my distraction and tried to grab me, I squealed loudly and slipped out of his hands, charging the opposite direction at full speed as he tripped and fell behind me. I could find a new place to hide, maybe they would give up and—yet another pair of hands caught me, but this time, the calloused hands held fast around my stomach, as I struggled ineffectually. The one holding me was a strong green-haired man with curious yet terrifying eyes. I stopped struggling—it was hurting me more than him at this point— and shivered nervously in his grip. They caught me, now they were gonna cook me up or throw me overboard! No matter how hungry I was, I should have known not to try to steal from a ship!

The orange haired girl had come out on the deck and now the others were coming around too. They were all so giant.

"What is this thing?" The green-haired man said.

Orange came up to me with a hand thoughtfully under her chin. "It was in the storage room so I thought it was a rat, but it doesn't look like anything I've seen before."

"It's way bigger, and a weird color, but it kind of looks like a mouse or shrew. Maybe it's mutated?" the tan man wondered.

"Hey Zoro, can we eat it?" The black-haired boy asked, looking bored now that the chase was done. My shaking got a little worse. I was too young to die, I was only six months old and I still had someone to find! _That's it,_ I thought, steeling myself. _My last hope!_

 _"_ _QUIIIIILLLLL!"_ I wailed, igniting and combusting the flames on my back with all the energy I had. They were strong enough that the green haired man, Zoro, grunted and dropped me. I corrected my fall on the way down, gleeful of a chance to hide—when the black haired boy's arms seemed to stretch just a _little_ too far, and before I knew it, I was being held by him and closely inspected.

"Whoa! Did you just use fire? I know someone with a devil fruit power like that? Did you eat the Flare-Flare fruit too?" He asked. I ignited my back again but he was holding me around the arms and shoulders and I wasn't able to hit him.

"I-it did it again, it shot fire…out of it's back…" Nami said in a daze.

Zoro frowned, patting his hands against his obi. "Cute trick."

"Luffy, there's only one of each type of devil fruit, so that's not a possibility, so it's either another, similar one, or it's a weird animal we don't know about." The tan boy pointed out.

 _I'm not an animal!_ I groused, trying to pry myself out of the boy's grip, though he didn't seem to notice, just grinned toward the redhead who had come over to get a closer look as well.

"Actually it's kind of cute, in a strange way…" Orange trailed off. On the ground, the top of my head would probably reach Green's knee, if I stretched to my full height; I am blue-green and cream with three red spots on my back for my fire and large, perpetually squinted eyes and a narrow, soft muzzle.

I have not been called "cute" before. I protest weakly.

Tan boy spoke up again, "It looks scared, I think it may have stowed away, not realizing we were going to sail away."

So he wasn't as dumb as he looked. I nodded eagerly before going back to being terrified.

"Huh? You can understand us?" Orange asked.

"Cyn!" _Yes! Don't eat me!_

"How cool!" Black said, his eyes lighting up. "And you can shoot fire so you must be a baby dragon!"  
The girl, Nami, raised an eyebrow skeptically at Black, then looked at me. "You didn't mean to jump abroad, huh? I bet you were just looking for food and got stuck, right?"

I nodded again.

"Do you live on that island back there?" Black said. I nodded again. I flinched as his eyes hardened and he crouched to set me down, free, on the floor. Not that escape was possible at the moment. No, my best bet would be to listen to them. "And we took you from your home."

Nami seemed to know where he was going with his idea, even if I didn't. "Luffy, those people were firing cannons at us. We can't go back!"

Luffy stared at me, not acknowledging the girl's words, still waiting for my answer.

I was hesitant because while I did live on the island, it wasn't really home to me, I didn't know anyone well on that island anymore. He seemed to understand my resistance because after a moment he gave me a nod and reached out a hand to my head. I flinched again, but the hand didn't touch me immediately, just stopped above me. When I looked up and gave it a slight sniff, the calloused hand gave my head a surprisingly gentle pat. "Alright then, it's settled! We won't eat you and we'll bring you to another island—that's a promise! What's your name?"

"Cyndaquil?" I hadn't been called anything in a long time so I just looked up at him.

"Ah, so your name is Cyndaquil," Black confirmed.

"Uh, Luffy, I think that's all it can say, I don't know if it's its name," Longnose said.

"Well, my name's Luffy and this is Zoro, Usopp, and Nami. We're the Strawhat Pirates. Now that that's settled, let's eat!"

Ten minutes later, the humans were sitting at the table in the kitchen eating smoked fish. Long nose—Usopp—had given me some dehydrated fruit, which I was working on by the door. I certainly wasn't that hungry, but I couldn't pass up the fruit; peeling off chunks of the vile skin and sticking my snout in the fruit to eat the sweet inside.

The crew were quick to laugh, or threaten, as Nami did when Luffy put his hands too close to her food, and soon they were done. Zoro looked back at me, again making me feel uncomfortable under his glare. Then, I realized that the conversation had moved on to talking about me again. I put more effort into looking busy while I listened in.

"—actually not uncommon for sailors, or pirates, to have a pet on board to catch vermin and some are even said to bring sailors good luck," Nami was saying.

"I think they got cats to prevent mice, it's crazy to keep a rodent on board," pointed out Usopp.

"I'm estimating we're about five days from the next island, so how about you just focus on not letting it chew through anything, alright Usopp?" Nami asked sweetly, while Usopp started to sweat thinking about that problem.

"Shihihihi!"

After that, it was getting late, and Zoro stayed to clean up the dishes, Luffy watched the sun set from the bow, Nami left downstairs somewhere and Usopp climbed up to the Crow's Nest for the night shift.

I hesitated, not sure what to do. I would have retreated back into the storage room but someone had fully shut the door so I couldn't slide in. I didn't want to spend the night out in the open and it was getting kind of chilly. As I wallowed, Luffy walked by me. "Come on, blue rat thing. Time to go to sleep," he said if it were the most natural thing in the world. Having no other options, I reluctantly followed the boy down the hatch, which brought us to a decent sized room with five hammocks, that smelled vaguely of snacks and old socks. Luffy hummed thoughtfully as he looked around for something. Finally, he decided to pull out a shirt, that looked a lot like the shirt he was currently wearing, folded it once and set on the ground near his hammock. "Here, mousie," he said, picking me up before I could back away and placing me on the shirt, "stay, go to sleep."

I stared at him incredulously for a minute as he changed into a nightie, yawned loudly and climbed into his hammock and instantly started snoring. Still, I sensed none of the predator drive I sensed in the swordsman, so I laid down and gradually let my defenses lower enough for sleep. Still, I stayed alert and woke up many times; when Zoro came in sweaty holding three long sticks, and when Usopp came in much later in the night.

* * *

The next day, after Nami brought an apple and water out to the deck for me, my initial trepidation was beginning to wear off. I think I could trust Luffy and his friends to drop me off safely at the next island. Around midday, Luffy was groaning about being bored and started playing with anything he saw—the small machine Usopp was messing with, a calcified piece of bread, finally a big bouncy ball, which rolled down the deck past me. My senses were on alert as I felt the vibrations across the floor. It hit the stairs and started bouncing down and I couldn't help myself anymore—I spun around charged after it. My acute spacial senses had already accurately located it, so once I was on the move, it was easy to hone in on. I leaped off the bottom few steps and trapped the bouncy ball under my paws just as it was approaching the side of the ship.

Luffy whooped and clapped, "Nice catch, fire-guy!" He quickly made a game of throwing the ball and catching it, but I found it hard to not get enthusiastic about the game. Luffy seemed to intrinsically understand how I was finding the ball (Cyndaquil aren't known for their superb vision) and kept adding new challenges, such as slapping the ground after he'd thrown it to try to throw me off. But as I kept catching up to the ball eventually, his distractions became _too effective_.

"Look, it's a giant bird!" He yelled once and in an instant, I was curled up in a ball, arching flames from my back. Luffy gave out a cheerful laugh and went off to distract himself with trying to raid the storage room.

Exhausted, I found a corner away from the water to take a nap in. That day, I occupied myself with watching Usopp tinker. Nami gave me a gentle pat on the head as she walked by the make dinner and I was given a piece of hardtack and that night, I slept on Luffy's shirt again.

The pirates, it seemed, must be the best of the humans.


	2. A Name

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna say that Cyndaquil are of course seeing through their VERY convincingly closed eyes, but like dogs (or more accurately, mice) their vision isn't their strongest sense. Mice and shrew are very aware to any change in the ground around them, and that alerts them to danger much earlier than any scent or sight would. I'm gonna say that that's a survival instinct of Cyndaquil because they're based on prey animals vs. Quilava, which is based on the omnivorous weasel. Also gonna say that Cyndaquil can see pretty well, but their motion discrimination (seeing moving things clearly and quickly) just kinda sucks.

The next day, Nami brought a small handheld mirror out with her and showed it to me, and I saw my own reflection just like water! Then she angled it so it reflected the deck and to my surprise, a bright spot of light started to move along the deck. I curiously put my paw to it, when it suddenly shot off about a foot away. I followed, but it moved again, and again, until finally, it stopped. After digging in place for a few seconds, I realized the light was intangible, but it felt very warm, so I let out a low happy _chrrr_ and tried to lay in it. Nami made a strange, unfamiliar noise similar to a purr, which made me raise my head. To my surprise, she seemed to be holding back laughter, Zorro also was a demon with his sticks—swords—that day, training until sweat poured into his eyes, it was hard not to be intimidated, this man must be the strongest of the crew. I was just finishing relieving an itch near my ear when I saw Usopp enter the kitchen near dinnertime, I trailed behind.

"Hey, mouse. Keeping me company?" Usopp asked with a friendly smile, pulling out some of the lemons and salted meat. "I'm trying something new today, I'm hoping the sourness might cover the saltiness of the meat and tenderize it, but it's a bit of a guessing game." Usopp continued on, streaming his consciousness, not entirely aimed at me, but just content to keep talking. "…And there was one time I had an entire village to feed and only a single haunch of boar meat and a pocketful of dried corn and I…" the more I listened to his story, the more entranced I was! Although he was still pretty young, Usopp had some incredible adventures! Wrapped up into his story, he kept slipping me pieces of meat or biscuits as I listened with rapt attention. "Oh, young protegé, you should have seen the Viking longship I christened after that!"

The others were called in for dinner and though some of the others said the meat was too sour, I had to agree-though mostly gravitated to eating plants rather than meat. Just as we were about done eating, my head shot up, my fur stood on end, and a flash of fire plumed from my back. Usually, I wasn't this reactive to changes in weather, but I was still (rightfully) nervous about being constantly surrounded by water. And, well, I had a reason to not like what was coming.

"Fire-guy lit up again!" Luffy said, mouth full of food.

"What is it?" Usopp asked.

Nami frowned, hand to her hair, where a couple of strands were floating from the static in the air. "Storm!"

We all spilled outside and within moments, the pirates were pulling the rigging, righting the wheel and preparing for the storm. I was a little unsure about what to do against the wind, which threatened to push me back and forth across the deck, but I did have something I had learned from my mother. I looked up at the thick storm clouds above. I understood they didn't care where they poured down, just that they did and I focused on the energy the sun above was trying to provide. The Strawhat crew ran around adjusting the ship as the first drops of rain came and… nothing followed.

The darkened deck slowly filled with light like opening curtains, angry storm clouds escaping in either direction, a decidedly supernatural sight. The fire burned on my back as the day returned to calm, and the rain began to pour below the departing clouds. When I finally shook myself out of it, extinguishing my fire, the crew was staring at me.

"You just _moved_ that storm." Nami pointed out dumbfounded. "That looked like an hour of rain. And it just completely stopped and now it's bright and warm?" She pointed up unnecessarily at the sun, cheerfully shining above.

"Shishishi! That guy sure is useful!"

* * *

That night, Nami warned us of a cold snap, but I had only known one climate my whole life, and apparently, by now we had sailed almost two hundred miles from my island. I lay in Luffy's extra shirt, listening to the quiet breathing of Zoro and Usopp and the loud snoring of Luffy but about half an hour after we turned in, I woke up shivering harshly. It was freezing, even after I nudged my way under the shirt. I may be able to produce flames, but fire types aren't known for their long-term endurance for cold. If you want an ice climber, go for an ice-type. If you want someone to relax with in a nice, blazing hot desert, a fire-type is who you should call.

I began to look around for warmth. I didn't want to rely on them but there would be no warm place on the ship. Luffy suddenly snorted loudly and tossed in his sleep. I would get smushed with him! I leaped onto a drawer and landed on Zoro's chest. He stiffened and one eye opened as he stared critically down at me. I shivered in response and looked at him with my saddest look, tilting my head to the side, quivering slightly, and giving a quiet whine. He growled slightly, but pushed me to his feet under the blanket and muttered. "Only this once, rodent."

That was good enough for me, I squirmed between his lower legs under the blanket and gave a big yawn. As I fell asleep, I thought about my mother's deep, rumbly voice, her stark red eyes, and a smile crept across my face.

* * *

The next few days, things started to change slightly. Once, when I was lounging in the sun after a particularly intense game of chase Luffy (in which I learned his body is made of rubber and bouncy and stretchy) where we took turns tearing after each other, wreaking havoc until Zoro had lost patience and yelled at us, Nami brought me a sliced up apple. Then Luffy took that apple and started trying to teach me tricks like sit and down and spin, which I did perfectly on the first try, because he said what he wanted me to do. It wasn't rocket science, but Luffy laughed gleefully as he held out a portion of the apple pieces for me to accept.

"You're so cool, fire guy!" he chuckled, eating the rest.

The next day, Usopp put a bowl of fresh water out on the deck for me and checked to make sure it was filled up later. I took that as a sign that they had accepted my presence on the ship, and to a certain degree, I had accepted them, too. No matter how temporary the situation was.

I got in trouble with Zoro for trying to gnaw on the one of his sword's sheathes and I thought he might be really mad at me, but he seemed to have mostly forgiven me after lunch. Me and Luffy listened to another of Usopp's stories. But the biggest thing, which made me look back at all the little differences was dinner on the fourth day. I waited on the floor for the designated cook of the day to throw me some scraps but instead, Luffy scooped me up and set me on the table.

"The mouse is eating with us from here out!" Luffy declared with a grin on his face. Usopp, who was on kitchen duty passed a plate over with cut up fruit and smoked trout and for the first time, over three hundred miles from home, I ate with the crew.

"We have rations for about another week and a half if we're careful, but with this unexpected detour, I think we need to be more careful from now on with our food supplies. It'll be another four days until we can make it to an inhabited island."

"You hear that, firey guy? We'll have you on a fun island in a few days, so hang in there!" Luffy said with a grin, patting my head. I return a meek smile.

"About that, I really think even if it's temporary, we should call him something," Nami pointed out. That piqued my attention.

"No way." Zoro shook his head. "You name something, you get attached. I don't want to hear you crying in a couple days because you don't want to give him up."

"Look at him, he's eating on the table with us, Luffy's _already_ attached," she pointed out. I looked over at Luffy in surprise. He was humming himself, still shoveling food into his mouth, swinging his legs like a kid. We did have some really fun times the last couple days…especially when he'd slow down enough for me to catch him during our tag games, or wrestle on the floor trying to bite his nose as he giggled. Nami clapped her hands. "So, a name!"

Usopp looked at me, a pensive look on his features. "A name… how about Zephyr? Like the wind, because he blew away that storm? Or Azure for the color of his fur?" Usopp proposed.

"Or Flamey," Zoro added sarcastically.

"I like Blaze for his fire abilities," Nami said thoughtfully.

"Shishishishi! You all are so bad at names! He made the sky sunny so his name is Sunny! Captain's orders!" Luffy declared.

Usopp stared at him but eventually grinned. "Well, that's pretty simple…but I guess it's alright, what do you think, Sunny?"

"Quil!" I cried in agreement. I didn't care what my name was or understand if it was simple or obvious or stupid, I was happy they came up with it for me! Almost like I had a place, as temporary as it was, for the first time since we were brought to this strange world.

"SUNNY!" Nami cried suddenly, and before I could jump out of the way, I was enveloped in a hug. "With that name, you're actually a cute little animal! A navigator's dream!"

I stopped trying to escape her grip after a moment, when I realized it was comforting, in its own way. I relaxed into it with a contented sigh.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed. And looking back at that day, sitting at the table with the crew that would be my family, who just gave me a name, I wonder if that's the first moment I joined Luffy's crew. Or at least, the moment I went from a stowaway to a friend.

Because it was the very next day that we came across the floating restaurant of the sea, the Baratie.


	3. Lost Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny has escalated from stowaway to accessory to grand theft

"Look over there! It's a boat restaurant!" Luffy shouted, hopping up and down with excitement against the railing.

Nami crossed her arms, a small smile on her face. "I hardly believed that old man when he mentioned there was one floating around the East Blue, but here it is. Do you think they'll sell us some barrels of provisions?" She said thoughtfully. Sunny jumped up carefully to the ledge to see what they were looking at—a large boat with a duck shape on it and a dock with "Baratie" printed on the side.

Everyone piled out of the ship, Sunny tensing, squirming cautiously on the ship side as the pirates either jumped down the six feet or took the two ledges down to the ground.

Zoro noticed, and called back. "Come on, mouse. Unless you want to wait in the ship."

Sunny wriggled nervously for a few more moments before taking the leap, plunking onto the deck without even a stumble. He sighed in relief, grateful for even a ghost of a feeling of being on solid ground.

"Do you think they'll let Sunny in?" Nami wondered.

"Why wouldn't they? Let's eat!" Luffy cheered.

Nami sweat slightly and looked down at Sunny. "Well, I guess if we're traveling with pirates, that's far from a big worry." She shrugged and the five of them walked in and found a seat at a large round table. Usopp picked up Sunny and set him in his lap as their server came over. Sunny didn't resist, a lap sounded much better than staying under the table to avoid being trodden underfoot.

Their server, a tall teenager in a black suit with yellow hair, came over to them. "Welcome to the Baratie, can I get you started with any drinks?"

"I want meat!" Luffy cheered, banging his fists cheerfully against the table.

"And I'll take nectarine juice if you have it." Nami smiled at him. For a moment, he had no reaction at all, before his mouth opened, almost dropping his cigarette. His eyes turned into hearts and he began to wobble back and forth.

"Of course! For such a beautiful woman, I would grow them from seeds to ensure you only had the best! My name is Sanji but you can call me your greatest admirer—"  
Sanji went from melting over Nami to standing at attention in a moment, leading to even more confusion.

"Is that a rat?" He asked, head tilted in confusion, a slight frown drawing his lips down. Sunny looked back at him, unsure what to do.

"That won't be won't be a problem, will it, _Sanji-san?_ " Nami jumped in, speaking sweetly. "Sunny is very well-behaved."

Immediately Sanji's demeanor flipped again. "Ah, that shouldn't be a problem as long as the other chefs don't see it. As for food, if you'd like, I'll bring out plates of all our specials if you all are very hungry."

The crew nodded and he disappeared back into the kitchen to prepare the drinks.

After a while, Sanji brought the food out and Zoro demanded a refill of sake.

Sunny popped his head over the table to sniff the incoming food as Sanji set down the first of three giant trays, almost losing balance when Luffy whipped an arm out to take a leg of the roast.

"Hey—wait what?" Sanji blinked in disbelief. "Did your arm just—?"

Sunny stretched up as far as he could to roll a drumstick toward himself and picking it up between his paws. Even if he was mostly herbivorous, the scent was tantalizing. Around him, Usopp's arms worked to collect his own plate full of food.

"This ish so good! Sanji you should join my crew!"

"Chew with your mouth shut, you're in the presence of a lady!" Sanji snapped, then added, "And no way!"

Sanji was attempting to set that last platter down further away from Luffy, who was chomping through his second plate already, with Usopp and Zorro not far behind, realizing they had to snap up food quickly in order to get their fill. Sunny was just getting ready to take a big bite out of his chicken when their lunch was interrupted. The front door of the Baratie slammed open, knocking against the door a few more times as a weak echo. A gray-skinned, disheveled man stumbled in, supporting a larger, but equally exhausted, man in gold armor. The restaurant went silent as they took a few unsteady steps into the room before collapsing to their knees.

The gray man locked eyes with the blond chef—Sanji. "Please, you have to help him—my captain and the crew haven't eaten in weeks."

Sanji doesn't say anything. A gentle thump of a refilled glass of juice is set in front of Nami is suddenly incredibly audible. No one moves.

Sunny, sitting with Usopp, stiffens as he catches a whiff of the decay on the man's labored breaths, even this distance away. The smell of someone whose body was halfway through giving up.

Sanji exhales quietly, folds his hands into his pockets, and without meeting their eyes, heads into the kitchen, passing by a buff yet goofy looking chef who had been watching contemptuously.

He looked hostile and angry, and Sunny could sense his intentions miles away. Harnessing his own feelings from a few days ago, and how he'd been treated so kindly recently, he crept over to the tall man, dropping the chicken leg in front of the tall man.

* * *

The man took the chicken leg and in an instant, rended the meat from the bone, then took a bite out of the bone before dropping it. I stared in shock, unsure what to do. The man needed more, that would never tide him over, and it didn't look like anyone was going to give him more—Sanji had just left…The man's large but emaciated hand left his mouth and appeared above him, reaching out to grab me, saliva dripping down the corners of his lips like a hunting dog, his eyes bloodshot and rabid.

"Hungry!" His voice was cracked and guttural, his body controlled simply by the need to eat to survive. Sunny shrunk back in horror, seeing what he wanted to do vividly in his mind, freezing him in place. It was just too much. _I can't—I can't. No. Not this. Not this._ All he could hear in his head was his heartbeat and memories—bad memories flooded his brain.

A rough hand wrapped around my scruff and he suddenly found myself lifted in the air.

"What is this in our restaurant?" Patty boomed shaking me in emphasis. He tried to make himself as small as possible, biting back hiss fire danger response. Because the last thing this situation needed was more heat.

The Strawhats were standing now too, watching the action go down with looks of anger, concern, or annoyance. Luffy was frowning where he stood.

Zoro placed a hand on his swords as a light warning, back his captain up. "We're gonna ask you to put the animal down."

"Huh? This is yours?" Patty asked skeptically. He'd heard of pirates keeping pets around to bolster their toughness. Animals like Newfoundlands, Mastiffs, Strong Island Gila Monsters. Cargo ships occasionally had a cat aboard to help, but this was different.

Sanji walked out of the kitchen at this moment, having finished a plate of fried rice he had been working on. He sized the room up before stooping and setting the plate as well as utensils down of the ground in front of the pirate captain. He picked up the chicken bone from the ground, looking around before glancing at me in his grips.

"That mouse belongs to those pirates, Patty. Let's not make any more enemies," he said.

"Tch." Patty dropped me, and as Sunny landed, he was already starting into a full-out run away from the angry cook and away from the man who'd tried to eat him alive, bounding out of the restaurant and around the corner in panic.

"Cynnnn," He hissed quietly, trying to recollect himself. Almost eaten. _Alive._ After a few moments, he made out Nami's voice from the restaurant.

"I'll be back in a minute, just checking on Sunny!" she called. The unlucky cyndaquil felt the tap-tap of her sandals approaching and stiffened but allowed her to approach. A second later, he was being picked up. When he looked up at her, he saw she was looking toward the ship with a determined look in her brown eyes.

"Shh, be quiet." She tucked him under her arm and made her way back to the Going Merry, ignoring the large ship docked next to them, filled with starving pirates. She boarded the Going Merry, set Sunny on the deck and got to work readying the ship.He couldn't help feeling very relieved they were leaving the restaurant after the last few moments but jumped up in surprise a few minutes later when the ship started to slowly pull away from the dock.

"Quil!" The little mouse cried in alarm. The rest of Nami's crew wasn't here!

"Sunny, hush! We're getting out of here! That cook is going to feed all those pirates and I can't afford to have it end here! I need to go back to my island!" Her eyes softened slightly as the ship pulled away twenty, thirty feet from the dock and she spun the wheel. "And I know Luffy promised to take you to the next island, so I'll fulfill that promise he made you as thanks for what he's done for me."

Sunny stopped his worried pacing near the side of the ship as she pulled away further, recognizing it as a lost cause. It's not like he could swim any distance to the docks and he _was_ getting what had been promised, still, he had expected a chance to say goodbye to Luffy and Zoro and Usopp.

It was quiet for a while until Nami was confident she had set the ship on the right course and quickly and efficiently prepped the ship in what should have been a four-person job.

She sighed, sitting on the steps and pulled out two apples, offering one to Sunny. "Here, I know you probably didn't get the chance to eat much either, so eat up now."

He sniffed, he hadn't gotten the chance to eat anything, in fact, _he'd_ almost been on the menu. Sunny padded over, laid down, secured the apple between his paws, and started gnawing on it.

"I wish I hadn't had to leave them." She said eventually, throwing the apple core over the side of the ship once she'd finished. "But I always knew it was temporary, just until I could work up the funds to save my village."

Sunny turned my snout towards her at that. _Save your village?_

"My village…let's say there has been a group abusing their power there for a long time. And after all this time," She clenched her fists, "I have what I need to send them away." She pondered this for a moment before speaking again. "But my island is a great place for animals, so you don't have to worry about that. There's plenty of coconut trees and small animals to play with, and you could even visit my sister and I if you want, and try our grove's tangerines. They're the best in all the Blues."

Sunny didn't like the idea of going off on his own again but he gave her a small nod anyway. There was still so much he didn't know and he was still so unsure of himself. He couldn't even protect himself from almost getting eaten! And Nami, she looked so sad. Whatever was happening on her island was weighing on her so much that she made a choice to leave the people she was having fun with. Looking at her now, she looked so lonely. Like all she knew how to do is say one goodbye after another.

She didn't sleep that night, so neither did Sunny. She brought a thick blanket on deck and sat against the railing for breaks and Sunny would nose my way in, curling up between her lap and the blanket until and adjusted his position several times until she giggled and protested that his snout was ticklish.

It was a good night, everything considered. She would give him a couple of pats and talk about her sister, funny stories from when they were young and got in trouble with an older woman that was only referred to as 'she.' As if Nami was remembering these stories rather than telling Sunny. He didn't mind as he felt more and more sleepy throughout the night until he abruptly woke up in the morning to a slowing ship. The look in Nami's eyes wasn't wistful anymore, it was determined, angry, scared. That wasn't the face of someone who was thinking about how nice it would be to see her sister again, it was the look of something else; a martyr, a criminal, a lost girl.

Something was very wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Stopping at Sunny's island meant losing a day and things aren't quite the same.


	4. Bound to Service

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny is in over his head

There Nami stood at the wheel, aiming at a dock meant for smaller boats. The ship slowed as the mast was furled and she docked with only the tip within reach of the dock in order to protect to the larger ship. She hoisted her bags of berri onto her shoulder and tucked Sunny under her arm before jumping onto the dock.

She looked at Sunny expectantly, like she was waiting for him to run off when they got to the ground. Sunny, startled by her clear intention, glanced around nervously. She stared for a moment then laughed.

"You're scared, aren't you? Well, that's understandable. You don't know anything about this island, so I'll show you where I live and even cook something up for you." Nami smiled. Sunny smiled dimly in relief and followed her toward a small town. He couldn't shake that something was still wrong, much more so than what Nami had talked about the night before. And she'd masked the haunted look on her face so effectively in just a few seconds, that it had Sunny, who had always been perceptive and in tune with others, reeling.

When they arrived in town, Nami, who was carrying the two large sacks of berri, looked tense again. Sunny stayed at her heel, cautious from his own experiences in towns.

"There should be people walking around. I haven't seen anyone," she said quietly. Her direction changed slightly as she led Sunny toward a plaza in the center of town. As they were coming around the corner, Sunny could already feel the startling vibrations of dozens of footfalls. He looked up and gave her a quiet squeak of warning as they came into hearing distance as well.

Moments later, they appeared. Before them was what must have been the entire village, carrying broken broomsticks and rakes and shovels and torches marching toward the other side of the island.

While Sunny was unsettled by the strange human behavior, Nami was horrified.

"Nojiko!" she shouted. A blue-haired girl around Nami's age in the back of the crowd stopped suddenly as the mob pulled forward. She turned around, eyes wide with what looked like surprise and dread.

"Nami…" Yes, Sunny decided, she looked sad to see her sister.

They stared at each other for a moment as the mob pulled away. Then Nojiko slowly walked up to her.

"What are you guys doing? You don't stand a chance against them!" Nami protested, shaking now.

"Nami, we knew about the money. We knew about your deal with the pirates this whole time. I'm sorry," she said softly, carefully. Sunny looked back and forth between the girls in confusion. She had spoken like she was delivering grave news. Protest died on Nami's lips as a half-formed sound caught in her throat. Nojiko continued. "Arlong…he knew you were close. He told the Marines where it was buried and they took it. I'm sorry, they took all of it." Nojiko wrapped her arms around the unmoving, ramrod straight Nami. "But it's okay. Because we're going to take it back. We've been relying on you for too long, half-hoping you'd leave and never come back, half-hoping you would be our savior. I'm sorry. But now we're going to get rid of the Arlong Pirates."

With that, Nojiko pulled away, fondly stroked Nami's hair, then spun around and took off running. Sunny took a few steps after the girl, fully expecting Nami to give chase. He was surprised when her knees buckled and she fell to the ground, tears tracking past her eyes.

If those pirates were really so dangerous, Sunny knew those townsfolk wouldn't stand a chance. Shouldn't they try to stop them? He whined slightly and pushed his head against Nami's arm, trying to coax her into reacting. When she didn't even blink, he tried again, and a third time.

Finally, her eyes trailed over to him, her expression wild—sad and furious.

"Get away! Why are you still here? I fulfilled the contract, I don't owe anyone anything!" She shouted. Sunny shrunk back, half-curled away, but didn't step back. "Get away, you dumb animal!" Nami picked up a small rock at her side and threw it at Sunny, only a few feet away. It sailed by his face and he charged away ten feet in sheer instinct before stopping and turning around, feeling hurt and confused. "AWAY!" She screamed louder, sobbing, she picked up another rock and chucked it blindly, just missing him again.

Sunny ran this time and didn't turn back.

Sunny ran until he made it out of town and found cover in a patch of shrubs, trying to catch his breath. He wasn't a stranger with having rocks thrown at him. When he was fending for himself, he had to make trips into town constantly in order to scavenge food. He wasn't old or strong enough to catch food for himself—he didn't even know how. Children would often throw rocks or try to hit him using slingshots and chase him until he escaped into dense foliage. But it had never hurt as much as this. His heart felt heavier than his fear when he thought back to her eyes, empty, scared, crying. Was she still trying to stop them? Sunny had those thoughts as he curled into a miserable ball. Eventually, he felt himself drift off into an uneasy rest.

_"_ _Oh, do you want a piece?" Nami asked. Sunny shuffled closer and gave the fruit a hesitant sniff. He hadn't seen this one when he'd raided the storage room three days ago. It was an orange fruit, smaller than he'd seen before, and smelled sweeter than a normal orange._

_"_ _You're a real glutton, aren't you?" Nami sighed. "You're a tenth of Luffy's size but you so nearly rivaled him in what you could eat when you snuck onboard." Nami peeled away a long piece of peel. "But if you were that hungry, then I guess we I can forgive it this once." The peel came away and she pulled the top apart so the fruit split cleanly like flower petals. He'd never seen an orange or whatever this fruit was opened this way. It was beautiful._

_"_ _My island is known for its mikans. This one won't be as good, but I couldn't resist buying a couple as a reminder." She took a piece off and put it in her mouth, smiling. Then took another piece and gave it to Sunny, who nibbled it thoughtfully. It really was delicious._

When he woke up again, it was night time. He pulled himself up. Even if Nami didn't want to see him again, he still needed to know what happened. He had the strongest feeling that this story wasn't supposed to end like it had. Maybe it was a feeling sent by the Legendaries, like his mother had told him about. Certainly, she believed that they would intervene and let their intentions be known through premonition or feelings. Maybe it was Hoopa, who Sunny remembered seeing on that fateful day months ago when the portal in his forest had been opened, sending hundreds of pokemon scattering through this new world.

Sunny retraced his steps back to town. Again, no one was walking around outside, but some lights were on in the houses and when he peeked through a window, he could see people who had just hours ago taken up arms getting ready for bed. But where was Nami?

Sunny never did find out where she lived with her sister or the other woman she talked about. His only clue was the pirate base everyone had been heading to. He took off in that direction.

Eventually, he got close enough to see a tall brick wall of the base. With his speed, was easy enough for him to leap up in two bounds, even if he was quite cautious of heights. He walked along the wall for a few minutes until he found a good spot. He scooted up a few feet up a sturdy plant growing at the wall of the base's side and jumped to the wall where sufficient ivy was growing. With his weight, it started pulling off the wall, so he had to move up the wall quickly. He made it to the top, huffing quietly. It was quite a sight. The base was right on the water, had a pool and a tower-like building. Even at night, there were blue, buff looking people walking around. Sunny squinted his eyes, jumping down the other side and skirting the wall toward the building. He'd have to be careful and quiet. There still wasn't any sign of Nami or her sister, but Nami had told him that she had been forced to work for them, that put an uneasy feeling in his belly.

Sunny patiently waited, lying on the edge of the lower roof until the humanoid being walked directly below. On closer inspection, they couldn't be human. They had sharp teeth and strange features and webbed hands. Sunny darted by again. He found a knotted tree around the back of the building that he didn't have to climb as much as he had to take one or two foot jumps from knot to knot until he reached the roof of the second floor.

There were plenty of windows, so Sunny peered in as many as he could, as stealthy and sure-footed as possible of the roofing. No, no, no. Either empty or only the strange aquatic people. He just had to hope this wasn't a dead-end because he wasn't sure where else she would be.

Sunny jumped from a window sill to the next, up a couple feet of a pipe, a small ledge, up to the third floor. He was very high up now, and he walked as close to the building as he could, trying not to think about getting caught or falling. He wasn't sure which would be worse.

He went from one window to the next, checking each one. Nothing.

Sunny sighed slightly. _Maybe she is back in town? But this building had felt so right._ He was still moving around the building when he heard something that immediately drew his attention. Crying. Nami. Nami was here and it was coming from _above_.

Swallowing a dreadful feeling, Sunny found his way up another floor through ledges and thick patches of climbing ivy. He checked the first window sill he saw and sure enough, he saw the orange haired girl seated at a desk cluttered with paper, trying to recollect herself.

Sunny jumped onto the window sill and let out a quiet whistle _._ Nami jumped slightly and looked around, finally seeing Sunny with shock. After a moment's hesitation, she came over to the window and opened it.

"Sunny?" Her voice belayed her disbelief.

"Quiii," Sunny squeaked. _About time I found you._

 _"_ How did you get here?" She asked, wiping away her tears in vain. They kept running down her cheeks.

Sunny jumped to the floor and nuzzled against her legs, showing her he wasn't scared of her from their last encounter.

She tensed but after a moment she had a controlled drop to the floor, wiping her eyes with one hand and petting Sunny with the other. A small smile graced her lips. "You came to see me? I can't believe it. You shouldn't be here, it's dangerous. You don't _owe_ me anything—"

 _I'm not here for that. I just couldn't leave it the way it was,_ Sunny said, wishing she could understand him.

She took a deep breath and hugged herself, calming down a bit. "You shouldn't be here. But thank you for coming. Look at me, relieved because a little mouse came to see me. I'm a wreck." She looked at her desk. "But that bastard really took everything. I left the money I took from…I took from Luffy at Nojiko's… and I went to stop them. The only thing I could do is to promise to work twice as hard, to work for them forever and never complain and that he'd let the townspeople go back without being hurt anymore. But I know they'll be punished still for d-disobeying. I can't do anything else. I can't leave the island anymore!"

Sunny looked up at her with half opened eyes, a stronger look on his soft face; a look of both determination and melancholy.

Nami started with realization. "You're…Sunny, you're not just an animal. You're intelligent, _aware._ More than an animal. You really _understand,_ don't you? You understand my feelings." She gave him a look, softer and more honest than he'd seen—something with admiration.

 _A creature with not just sympathy but empathy!_ She couldn't help but marvel at the idea.

Then there was a the door unlocked and opened and in a flash, nearly too fast for Sunny to understand, Nami scooped him up and was trying to toss him out the open window.

"What's this?" Even faster than Nami was this blue humanoid, who secured a webbed hand around Nami's wrist. Two predatorial eyes looking down at her past a large, serrated nose. "A little pet for poor Snow White?"

Nami froze, and the man tore me from her grip by the scruff.

 _Damn you, let go of me!_ I struggled, letting loose my flame. _People have to stop picking me up like that, I'm too big for that!_

The man winced, but only tightened his grip. For some reason, my fire wasn't as effective as it should have been. He shook Sunny roughly until the fire flickered out. Nami felt a bulge of panic rising in her throat, but she couldn't bring herself to move from where she was on the floor, except to tighten her fists against the ground. _If only I'd been a little faster!_

"What's this strange creature?" The man now sounded interested, and called back to another man, standing in the doorway. "See if we still have that cage. Then find out if this is worth anything. If not, we'll add it to the stew tonight." He said, passing the struggling creature to the other man.

As the other man accepted, the fire-type reached out and secured his teeth around the man's pinky finger and bit down as hard as he could.

"Shit!" he said, prying it off, and hitting Sunny in the head. Sunny felt everything go starry, then dark, and he had a moment to wonder when he'd gotten outside before he lost consciousness, a plume of smoke leaving his mouth.

Nami felt tears well up in her eyes again. Sunny had been completely innocent in this and she'd dragged him into it. She dug her nails into her tattoo until it bled. Poison. She was poison to anyone who she let get near her. Poison to the townspeople, poison to the Strawhats, poison to a kind, little shrew creature, too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. How old is Sunny? Well I have this Pokemon aging theory that I use in my other long term pokefic, but basically, a tame pokemon ages a little slower than a dog until it reaches adulthood (around 2) and then ages at the same rate of a human after. So a healthy pokemon could live about 70 years (so they’d die around when their trainer would, I don’t need any heartbreak), wild pokemon about 30. So, Sunny is about 6 months old. So think big puppy, not very useful, just trying to figure things out, but on the cusp of being a force to be reckoned with. He’ll get strong, he’s just not quite there yet.  
> 2\. Also, yes, a little lore on how the pokemon got where they are. Is there more to that story? It can only be revealed in time, because that’s all Sunny knows.  
> 3\. I’m using pokemon typing only in regards to Sunny. Fire might be powerful against a fishman normally, because it could dry him out, but if Sunny tries it it’s Not Very Effective. Same for it him being in water, or fighting something that is ice, ground, or grass-affliated. If he’s involved, it’ll go by poke typing rules.  
> 4\. Take it easy on my boy Sunny. He’s level 5 in a world of superpowered people.


	5. Encounter at Cocoyashi Village

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny engages in combat.

Sunny woke up in a dark and damp basement, in a cage, feeling quite sore. He shifted around a couple times before he realized the gravity of the decidedly bad situation he'd found himself in. And there was shouting from above. Angry shouting, and impacts that shook the floor, sending off sparks of dust. Someone, or many people, more likely, were out there fighting. And it sounded like Luffy.

 _But how did he get here?_ Sunny wondered, standing up to check the locking mechanism. It was a usual cage with a latch, also secured with rope. Not exactly cyndaquil proof-at least not this one.

Sunny blew out a thin stream of flame for several seconds until the rope was charred and brittle. It only took a tug or two after for the rope to snap.

Now for the lock. Sunny pushed himself up to the door and slid his arms out of the cage, with all the dexterity he could manage. He didn't know why everyone in this world seemed to assume he was unintelligent just because he walked around on four legs, but for that moment, he was very thankful for human's lack of understanding of those different than them. He moved the latch up, then yanked it to the side so it unlocked, then did the same with the lower one. He'd had to figure out how to get a cage like this open in the past, and he was just glad that he had that knowledge now, as the cage door swung open and let jumped down to the floor, running up the stairs and outside toward the shouting.

Outside was a mess. Sunny could barely follow what was happening and ducked under a chair near the door facing the pool as he attempted to process the scene. Luffy was there, and so was Nami, and Usopp, and Zoro, and what that _Sanji?_

Luffy looked like he had just started trading blows with the man who had caught Sunny before and the rest were fighting against other blue people, except for Nami, who was standing to the side, Luffy's strawhat on her head, covering her mouth as she tried not to cry.

Sunny managed to shake himself out of his reticence as the brown fish-person who had knocked him out before pointed at him and shouted, "Hey, it's that fire mouse, how did you get out!"

There was nowhere to go but forward, with the clanging of weapons and impacts of fists all around. And who would he be if he turned proverbial tail just as his friends had arrived?

Sunny charged forward toward the man, igniting his flames. With the starting distance between him, he now had a chance to fight the way he'd attempted to earlier against him. He let his throat heat up and it's consistency changed until he was a few feet away from the man, where he exhaled a thick, black smokescreen.

"What the—?" The man started to backpedal, but the cloud of cinder extended further around him.

 _I have about ten seconds to make this count,_ Sunny thought, pushing forward. He couldn't see in the thick fog either, not that it mattered. He knew exactly where the large man was, that he was taking uneven steps back. With his considerable speed, Sunny skirted around him, turned his back to him, waited a second, put his weight on his front legs, and nailed a double kick to the man's ankle.

"Agh!" the man cried out, his arms lashing out instinctively, but Sunny was too low to the ground to be hit. There wasn't quite a crack like he'd expected so Sunny had to improvise slightly and whipped around to bite the injured ankle, which he could see now. The smoke was beginning to clear. He pushed his teeth in further as the man reached down to grab him, and he moved out of the way, raking his teeth to the other side as he went. He yelled out as the smoke finally cleared.

"Huh? It's the rat." Zoro said, dropping out of his sword stance in surprise.

 _Why is that the only thing people say when they see me?_ Sunny lamented while turning to him and greeting him with a dubious "Cyn!"

Then jumped out of the way as the man punched a hole in the cement. Sunny retreated over to Zoro, who actually looked pretty badly hurt, with bloodied bandages stretching across his entire chest. The fish man followed furiously, limping slightly as his ankle dripped blood onto the ground.

"Tagging out? Guess I'll finish this one up," Zoro grinned, slashing toward his new opponent. The fishman swung out a fist, aiming for the Zoro's wounded chest, but his punch was stopped with the edge of Zoro's sword, spurting blood from his fingers.

The green haired man narrowed his eyes. "You should know better than to use your fists against a swordsman," he grunted as a fist impacted with his stomach, spreading the bloodstain. "And you should also know I promised my captain I would never lose again." And with that, he put a third sword in his mouth, spun and charged the man. By the time he flicked the blood off his sword, the man had fallen to the ground.

Sunny was flabbergasted at the swordsman. He knew he was ridiculously powerful, if only by the time he spent training and his sheer aura. But then he collapsed onto one knee, clutching his side.

 _This is bad,_ Sunny thought, running up to him. _In the middle of the battlefield._

Behind them, an explosion of water went off, as Luffy was dragged underwater by the sword-nosed pirate and the splashing continued. Immediately after, Sanji shouted an expletive and dove after him, ignoring his fight.

Sunny bit Zoro's pant leg, attempting to guide him away from the battle as a few drops of blood curled down his fingers, but he resisted.

"I'm not walking away, either," he said, pulling away and began to pull off his boots to dive after Luffy and Sanji. He was breathing hard and Sunny had seen more focused eyes from confused weedle. The opponent Sanji had been facing was now being peppered by small projectiles by Usopp, who was perched on a high ledge. Nami looked like a deer in the headlights, hand up to secure Luffy's hat to her head. Sunny was glad to see besides looking devastated, she didn't have that desperate hungry look to her and she was relatively unscathed.

Sunny caught motion in his perpetually squinted eyes. The fishman was lifting up his gaze, still clear and predatory. His hand was moving to his pocket when Sunny made a split second decision and charged, closing the space between them yet again. He was grateful to have seen the minuscule motion. Usually, his vision wasn't this sharp, especially not better than Zoro's, who evidently hadn't.

Sunny locked his teeth around the man's wrist and bit down as hard as he could, digging into the hard cement ground and pulling his arm away from his pocket with everything he could muster, jerking his mouth from side to side. A cyndaquil's teeth weren't meant for attack, but they were small and sharp and with leverage, just enough to puncture its rough skin.

The fishman hissed in pain and reached out to swat Sunny, who registered the movement in the fishman's body but only held tighter in response. His fire blazed to life. _If he's going to hit me, I'm not going to be the only one getting hurt,_ he thought.

But before the fist could come down on him, a sword slid easily between the two, an inch above Sunny's head.

Zoro smiled from his crouched position as the meaty fist cut itself on his katana for the second time. Zoro was barefoot and bloodied, but the look on his face was determined now. He held his katana still, his experience as a swordsman letting him expertly negate the recoil. Sunny felt a few splattering drops fall on his head but he held on, closing his eyes tighter.

"That's not a good idea," the swordsman said to the fishman. Then he glanced down at Sunny. "You're an aggressive one, aren't you? Get out of here, he's mine, you're getting in the way."

Sunny wasn't going to mess with him with that look on his face, besides, he'd used most of the tricks up his sleeve. Sunny released the man as he pulled and backed away toward the hedges to survey the scene. Sunny hadn't intended to jump into the fight unless Nami had been alone and desperate but he'd entered the fray almost without thinking.

 _Without thinking,_ he corrected, he had had no idea how strong the Strawhats or their enemies were. He easily could have had every bone in his body crushed.

Luffy, dripping wet but rescued from the water, had begun his face off with Arlong in earnest, rubber fists flying into their hideout and sending up plumes of dust.

Usopp fired small yet accurate projectiles at stray fishmen but they were almost all accounted for. Sunny headed for Nami, who was watching the quickly collapsing building with tears in her eyes. Tears of relief. Relief that Sunny hadn't had the words or strength to provide. He'd been a prisoner as much as Nami in the end. Nami fell more than crouched to the ground when she saw the small creature approach. Her hand went to the brim of the straw hat again.

"You're okay…I was worried what they'd done to you," she reached out a hand as if to say he was fine, and maybe she might be too.

Maps and papers flew out the window and levels of the building came crashing down.

"Nami!" Luffy shouted, "YOU'RE FREE!"

Nami's hands went to her mouth and she heaved a loud sob.


	6. Sleuth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny finds something he'd lost

Things slowed down after Luffy's proclamation of Nami's freedom. The orange-haired girl stayed on the ground and the remaining fishmen dove into the East Blue. Ussop cautiously crept into the empty battlefield. Luffy made his way to Nami and spoke quietly to her. She covered her mouth and nodded and he helped her to her feet, reclaiming his hat with a grin while blood dripped from the bite wounds on his arms and shoulders.

The adrenaline was still running through me, almost enough that I was shaking. The last day had been fraught with uncertainty and fear but the Strawhats were here now. And somehow even with the chaos they wreaked, it made me feel, not safe, but placated.

The Strawhats stayed a few days, gathering supplies and recovering from both the fishman and fight and the fight they'd had with those pirates and their crew, who had shown up at the Baratie. They'd defeated them, Luffy had impressed Sanji enough he'd decided to come along, much to Sunny's surprise. But if anyone could, it would be the Strawhat's charismatic Captain.

After the fight, they'd all made their way to Nami's house, surrounded by a small orchard of mikan. This time, Nami didn't say anything about me leaving nor did she offer for me to come back for dinner. I was so disoriented by the recent events, I followed blindly, numbly behind the crew. Everyone was quiet, even Luffy, but his tired grin still gave off plenty of excitement and pride. Once we got to her house, Nojiko ushered us in with a shove. She looked harried and exhausted but thrilled, once she heard the news.

Everyone immediately slumped into chairs or couches. Nami slipped into another room and reappeared twenty minutes later, looking red eyed but determined.

Zoro was fast asleep on a chair, moving. Usopp had already treated him and Nami helped him as they went around treating injuries.

* * *

Nami approached me a while later after everyone's injuries had been tended to. I was laying quietly in the corner and turned my attention toward the red-headed girl as she approached. To my mild surprise, she sat next to me and gently scooped me up, careful of the soot-covered bruise on the side of my head. She looked thoughtful like she wanted to say something but she ultimately looked like she was at a loss. So Nami gently wiped away dirt with a handtowel and offered me a handful of seeds. They were strange looking and when I tried one, they were salty and crunchy and the perfect size. Nami gently pet my back over my firespots like she wasn't worried about them even though she'd seen them in action.

We all fell asleep that way, lulled by the dusky sky, sprawled about exhausted in the small living room. Part way through the night, I woke quickly to the twitches in Nami's arm.

I didn't move as she set me down, padded quietly toward her room. I listened to the loud snores of the other crewmembers and thought to myself, Nami might believe in them now, but it will be a while until she won't be sneaking off into the night.

_Nami, above all the rest, is the most in touch with her pokemon side_. _Her instincts are strong so they will keep her alive even when she isn't strong. Like me, they served her well._

What were my instincts telling me? To find a group to be safe, to find the other cyndaquil and avoid the terrifying open sea. But there were no cyandaquil here and there never were, except for me.

But I had found a group, one that came with a heavy price of danger. Well, more than a group, a word stronger that I couldn't bring myself to use. Was it worth it to sneak onto their ship again?

My eyes dipped shut again, bidding me to worry about that later.

There was a saying among pokemon his mother had told him—'foresight is for humans and Abra' So I wouldn't worry about it for now.

The next morning, everyone was slow to rise. I was the first one awake as I felt the footfalls of the cook, Sanji, walking around. I cracked open an eye to see the blond pulling food and supplies from Nojiko and Nami's kitchen and making breakfast. I thought I'd close my eyes a little longer as quiet filled my head and woke up again when sunlight was streaming through the window and to a set table full of french toast and omelets and still-sizzling bacon. Everyone but Zoro made it to breakfast and after we were done, Luffy exclaimed he wanted to give me a tour with the vitality of someone half as bandaged as he was.

"Luffy, Sunny's been on the island longer than you have," Nami tried to explain. But Luffy wouldn't have it.

* * *

"Oi, Zoro, you wanna come too?" Luffy asked, putting on his sandals where Nami, him, Usopp, and myself were at the front door, preparing to head out a few minutes later.

"He's not gonna wake up. The idiot fought too hard," Sanji said, then directed his voice toward the swordsman. "Hey Zoro, want some sake?" Zoro didn't stir.

"Zorooo! Want me to bring you back something cool?" Luffy yelled.

"Sure, Captain," Zoro mumbled, cracking an eye open for a moment.

"Shithead!" Sanji yelled, throwing a dirty ladle at the injured man, who caught it and let it clatter to the floor before rolling over and going back to sleep.

"Shishishi!"

* * *

After a brief walk through the town, Nami had given up on any effort to get a proper tour to Luffy, who kept getting sidetracked or complaining and she and Usopp had gone off to the general store.

"Aw, they left. What should we do now?" Luffy looked down at me. I tilted my head helplessly. I didn't know any good spots either. In fact, the idea of being in a town without needing to worry about people trying to hurt me was a strange feeling. What had I always wanted to do that I never could? I didn't even know where to begin.

Then I remembered something Nami had said. I ran down the street, Luffy immediately following in a run a step behind me. I stopped at the base of the first coconut tree I saw and put my front legs up on it.

"Coconuts? Good idea!" Luffy's arm extended out to grab one twenty feet above us with ease and he bonked it against a rock so it split in half. He handed the smaller half down to me and he ate his half in three bites, shell and all.

"Hello? Can I have a moment of your time?" We both looked up. A man with a small mouth wearing white clothes approached. "Are you the ones who saved our town from those pirates and scared off those Marines?"

Luffy looked at him blankly for a moment. I slurped the coconut water.

"Yeah, that was my crew," Luffy said breaking into a grin.

"What do you call yourselves?"

"The Strawhat pirates, and I'm Monkey D. Luffy, I'm going to be—"

"Of course, do you mind if I get a picture of you? I'm a journalist…for the Cocoyashi Chronicle," the man said holding up his camera.

"—The King of the Pirates!" Luffy finished. The camera flashed.

The camera abruptly turned to me, startling me enough to look up from my gnawed coconut in time to hear a snap and a blinding flash of light that made me see floating blue shapes. The man thanked us and ran off.

"What a weird guy," Luffy laughed.

"Cyndaquil…" I had to agree. Strange things always seemed to happen around the pirates. But looking around the island I was suddenly all too aware of what Luffy and Nami had said.

_"_ _We won't eat you and we'll bring you to another island—that's a promise!"_

_"_ _There's plenty of coconut trees and small animals to play with, and you could even visit my sister and I if you want, and try our grove's tangerines."_

They intended to make me stay here.

* * *

The rest of the day passed more lazily as we headed back to the house for lunch and Luffy crashing back onto his cot for a needed nap. Nami disappeared again for most of the day and everyone got a mikan after Sanij's delicious beef stroganoff. I slept next to the fireplace that night and still no one had sent me off on the island on my own like they'd promised. The next morning, Luffy announced they'd leave after lunch and I waited for Zoro to point out I was still there, hanging around like a stubborn booger. No one did.

Finally, Luffy said it was time to go and Sanji packed up plenty of food and Nami bid farewell to a grateful if weathered village.

Still no word on me staying behind and eating charred coconuts for the rest of my life. Not even Nami was staying. The call of adventure of the high seas was too strong even for a careful girl like her. They began to load the Merry with supplies. I watched, not having any hands to lend to the process. There hadn't been any casualties as Nami had given herself up to protect the villagers and the Strawhats had shown up before the other pirates could 'teach them a lesson.' In short, even dozens of miles apart, it was as if the crew had worked in perfect sync with each other. I had the realization that they were powerful and there was no chance that I could sneak onboard again without anyone knowing. If they were going to leave me on this island, they would make sure I wasn't on the boat again before setting sail. Maybe the world didn't want a little fire type on the sea anyway.

Finally, the crew was standing on the small harbor, the Merry loaded for her voyage.

"Alright! I have an announcement!" Luffy cheered, an omnipresent grin on his face even larger. He laughed to himself as the crew and I turned our attention to him. "Shishishishi…Our crew has a swordsman and a liar and a cook and our navigator. But we still need a Leuitenant of Cabin-warming!" He announced proudly.

Sanji and Usopp gave him especially strange glances. Nami caught on even before I did.

"Sunny would be our…" Nami started confused.

"Our crewmate! Officially. He may look funny like a mutant and only be able to say one word, but he's definitely got what it takes to be on the future Pirate King's crew!"

I blinked. So Luffy wanted me on his crew? I knew he did before, but I thought the rest of the crew wouldn't take it seriously, really they hadn't, except for Nami, who had seemed like she wanted a pet. But a crewmate? I thought about the fight, how I'd been knocked out, how Nami had tried to protect me and Zoro had to step in to help me, the canyon between our strength had never been so plainly apparent. I wouldn't be a stowaway, passenger or pet, but a _crewmate_ that was expected to contribute. My head spun at the thought.

"I'm the _Sniper Captain,_ not the liar! And Lieutenant of Cabin Warming is horrible!" Usopp complained. "Sunny wants to be the Lieutenant of Fire!"

"What does that even mean?" Nami demanded.

Luffy thought for a moment. "Well, Sunny would be a second-in-command whenever we go somewhere cold or when food needs warming away from the ship or if my hands get cold."

"THAT'S TOO MUCH POWER!" Nami yelled, hitting Luffy in the head with her good arm. "He's still a baby animal, you know!"

"Idiot, I'm in charge of the food! If there's no fire, I'll MAKE it." Sanji added heatedly.

Zoro drew a long sigh, his captain had made his decision. "Well, they say taking care of an animal teaches responsibility."

Luffy sulked. "For now, Sunny'll be the Junior Lieutenant of Fire then. How does that sound?" he directed the second part to me, crouching down in front of me and extending a hand with a gentle smile. I instantly remembered him trying to pet me like this shortly after I'd first met him, but I'd been scared and dashed away. He didn't move his hand closer, just held it a little ways a way.

"You're ready for an adventure, aren't you, Sunny?"

A tingle of excitement ran down my spine to my toes. _I_ _was._ These humans, _humans,_ had become my sleuth. Sleuth—a word I hadn't used since my mother's death, a word we had called our family. A group of cyndaquil where called a whisker, and a family of cyndaquil evolutions were a sleuth. And if these strange humans were my sleuth now, they were the biggest family I'd had since the Big Displacement.

They—no, Luffy—could give me the strength I needed to find the person I'd been looking for. Just a week ago, it had seemed a distant but constant dream pushed aside by the need to survive and the sheer eminence of the task. But Luffy didn't care what was impossible, and I clung on to that.

"Cynnn!" I rumbled happily, pushing my head into Luffy's palm affectionately. He laughed and gave the top of my head a scratch as I nuzzled the calloused hand.

* * *

I woke up in the boy's cabin the morning of the second day on the water well-rested. I was feeling 100% again after the fight, maybe even better. I had slept on the quilt folded to be my size with high sides that Usopp made for me. Luffy, Zoro, and Usopp were still asleep, collectively snoring loud enough to make a slight vibration through the floor even on their hammocks. I imagined how much more quiet Nami's room would be and wondered why 80% of the crew was in the same room while she had one to herself with extra beds.

I shook myself off and stood, feeling my temperature rise in response to waking, burning away any drowsiness. I hopped up the ladder one rung at a time, brace myself on the top run and nose the wooden hatch open just enough that I can slip through. It's a process, certainly not one designed with Cyndaquil in mind, but I've learned how to manage.

On the deck, Nami was sitting in a beach chair looking over an old chart. The sun had barely risen but she had a steaming drink next to her, which meant Sanji had already come by. My stomach growled slightly. And if Sanji was awake…

Sanji was the biggest mystery of the crew to me. Floating and obsessive about Nami while serious and distant to others. Meanwhile, Nami looked at peace, as if lost in thought as she examined the map and Sunny remembered all the other maps from that tower flying through the air and Luffy's cry and Nami's face. Her tattoo had changed from the Arlong Pirates to a windmill and mikan.

She looked focused. Better not interrupt her now. Still, I was bored of being on the water and most everyone was asleep so I headed for the kitchen.

I made it to the kitchen door but stopped, stumped at the great wooden barrier before me. The only way in was a couple feet above my snout.

I sat up on my back legs and shoved against the door a few times before sitting back. A moment or two later, the door opened and I was greeted by an unnatural stretch of black pant leg. I squinted up at the blond cook, who looked down at me with faint surprise and curiosity. We hadn't really interacted with each other before, I realized. I waited a beat and when the cook didn't do or say anything, I padded between Sanji's feet and into the kitchen.

I heard a heavy sigh, followed by the door swinging shut as Sanji went back to the stovetop where he was cooking breakfast.

The whole room was warm and full of interesting scents for me to pick out, making me wonder why I didn't come out here every morning. Well, before it would have been Usopp trying strange recipes and catching things on fire (not that there was anything wrong with flambé) or Zoro would stumble in for his shift fifteen minutes before breakfast cursing before putting out a stack of jerky on hard tack for breakfast. The gentle aromas of fresh ingredients were certainly something new.

Sanji cracked a few eggs into a skillet. "I'm going to guess you're inviting yourself into the kitchen at six in the morning because you're hungry?" Sanji hazarded.

I sniffed in response, reaching up to the seat of one of the chairs, hopping up, and pulling myself onto it, sitting as I'd seen the rest of the crew as a response to his question. I'd learned actions spoke louder than words they couldn't understand. (Why couldn't humans understand pokemon? _All_ pokemon could understand each other, even if we each had our own discreet dialect. We could even understand humans on top of that. And they _still_ thought they were the brains of the operation!)

Sanji did seem to understand my action. "Alright, I'll let you have breakfast a little early, but only because you're a kid, whatever you are." He opened an ice bin and expertly filleted a small flank of salmon off and added it to the pan with butter and dill, scrambling it. "But don't make a habit of it."

He spoke somewhat uncertainly, looking back at me like he wasn't sure what to make of me and was worried I'd make a mess of his kitchen. But every time he looked over at me, I was sitting in a chair watching him patiently. I figured this was the way to get food though, and that hovering around his feet was a recipe to get stepped on instead, so I stuck with my guns and endured the wonderful smells as my stomach growled again quietly.

"Yeah, this is weird," Sanji told himself as he steeped tea and poured it into a teacup. After a moment's hesitation, he set it in front of me. I stared at it in confusion.

"Careful drinking that, it's hot." Sanji turned back around to serve the eggs and salmon over rice.

I hopped up on the table and I stared down at the steaming hot liquid for a second before burying my snout into it with a _slurrrrrp!_

* * *

Sanji spun around to see the large blue shrew stick his snout the near-boiling tea. The washcloth he'd been holding dropped out of his hands. Water burns were no joke—he'd seen plenty of prospective chefs get seriously injured by them. Why had he put it in front of a little animal—?

But the little creature didn't seem to notice as he finished his long slurp and sat back, sighing contentedly, a breath of steam streaming from his mouth in front of a now-empty teacup.

Sanji's slack jaw turned into a small smile of relief at that. "Huh, you liked it? Whatever devil fruit you ate is heat-related, not fire, I guess." He refilled the cup and watched, eyebrow quirked as Sunny drained it again.

Then he poured the salmon and egg rice into a bowl, grabbed the hot sauce on a whim and sat down at the table near Sunny. Sunny sniffed the dish while Sanji sprinkled a little bit of hot sauce on top and pushed it closer to Sunny.

Sunny started into it. It had flavor he'd never expected. It felt like his ember inside his mouth. It was delightful and warmed him but the sensation quickly disappeared. Sunny looked up at Sanji, disappointed. Sanji portioned even more out, making sure to put enough even for Chef Zeff on the food. If it was too strong for the little creature, Luffy would still eat it.

When Sunny tried it, he squealed in delight and put his snout in the food to continue eating as Sanji returned to his cooking, thinking he sure had picked a strange group of pirates to travel with. Even their pet wasn't a pet, it was a crewmember with a heat power and some level of intelligence. Maybe he was a _Zoan, Type: Fire mouse_? Well, whatever he was, Sanji wouldn't have believed it before he saw it.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny interferes

The rest of the day elapsed lazily. Once the other boys were up and breakfast was had (seven o'clock sharp), Luffy suggested fishing. Once Usopp caught one, it flew into the air, line snapping. Sunny persued the flopping fish around the deck while Luffy alughed uproariously.

The fun only ended when its tail slapped Sunny in the face and he toasted it. Luffy enjoyed a delicious post-breakfast snack though, despite Usopp's loud complaints.

That night, Nami announced they'd reach Loguetown around midday tomorrow. Loguetown, the last stop before the Grand Line and apparently an important place for pirate-kind. Ahead of them, strange creatures and adventures abound.

* * *

Sanji made sure everyone had a hearty breakfast the next day as they gated in the port. "We need to make sure to stay in groups," he said, "someone with directional sense sould keep an eye out for Zoro and someone needs to make sure Luffy doesn't do anything stupid—why do I feel like all your fathers right now?" He asked to himself, slapping his head.

Zoro hopped the side of the Merry and walked toward the town. "No thanks, I'm off to find a drink and a sword."

"Sanji want to help me with supplies?" Nami asked and Sanji went from aggravated to lovesick in a second.

"Oh, _of course,_ Nami-swan!" he cooed.

"Scrap!" Usopp shouted, also jumping ship and hightailing it to the nearest flea market.

"Shishishi! I'm off sight-seeing!" Luffy secured his hat to his head and took off, grabbing a lamp pole dozens of feet away and propelling away.

Very quickly, Sunny realized that everyone had dispersed in different directions and he was alone on the boat. His eyes opened wide as he ran in a quick little circle in surprise before hopping off the side of the boat, landing on the dock with a thump, and taking off toward a random direction to find any of his crewmates. There wasn't a chance for Sunny to scent them, and there were a dizzying amount of vibrations underfoot. In fact, even on the outskirts of the port town, there was so much movement, Sunny knew this was the biggest town he'd ever seen.

_What's this place called? Loguetown? It must be the biggest town on the seas! Mom would have mentioned something like this if she'd seen something like this in Johto too!_ Sunny thought to himself in awe.

He briefly pondered staying out of the town entirely, but he was pirate a pirate now, and pirates were explorers. And explorers didn't choose not to explore because it was scary or intimidating.

Sunny made his way down the street, staying close to the walls of buildings and cautious to any children or shopkeepers with brooms, as those were the only people who often bothered with him. There were still too many people, however, and Sunny had no choice but to duck into the first alley he saw and follow through it. He could smell the ripe garbage in the dumpsters clearly.

_A little over a week ago, I would be looking for scraps, and now I'm eating a chef's food three times a day!_

Sunny followed the alleyway, a few white rats a third his size scurrying away as they saw him. He reached the other side of the alleyway and paused, surveying from the safety of the dark alley. Humans seemed to hate them, making it perfect shelter for rodent kind, no matter the size. He was having no look identifying any of his crewmates, and all the people seemed to blend together a little bit. Humans tended to look pretty similar.

_Oh. Except for that one,_ Sunny amended. She was walking closest to the alley, looking almost like Nami but taller, much taller and with black hair and a bikini top and a huge spiked club and a horrible aura clouding around her. Sunny sweated slightly. That was not a normal person, he'd have to avoid her. She looked like someone who'd kick anything underfoot.

_This is weird, I should probably head back for the ship,_ Sunny thought to himself, _I can't get back onto the ship but I can hide near the docks until Nami gets back._

But as Sunny was trying to find his way back down the slanting alley, he realized he must have taken a turn somewhere as he ended up somewhere he didn't recognize again. He lamented that they weren't in a nice field where he wouldn't get lost. If he couldn't find his way back, they might leave him behind!

And now he was closer to the center of town, where there were more people and even _dogs._ It made him shake just to imagine one of them catching his scent and getting away from their humans.

"Oho! Look at this little guy!" A voice said. Sunny jumped slightly as a green haired man with a nose ring walked closer to the entrance of the alleyway. The strange man pulled a piece of linty cheese from his pocket and held it out toward him. "Want a little treat?"

Sunny absolutely did not want a treat, especially not from the weirdest looking person he'd seen yet, with hair the same color as Zoro's but much longer and exaggerated facial features. _I take it back, people are diverse, especially compared to pokemon, where we look pretty similar to each other, except for Spinda._

The man took a step closer, still offering the cheese. I bounded past him into the crowded street, avoiding feet as a couple exclamations of shock passed overhead.

"Huh? Where are you going? What a weird little dog," the strange man said.

* * *

Nami handed the last bag of clothes to Sanji, who accepted most gratefully.

"And that should be everything," she smiled, unable to see Sanji over the stack of clothes she'd bought. Not just for her either, she was nice enough to get a new outfit or two for everyone. "Oh, we had to get supplies too, right Sanji?" She suddenly remembered.

Sanji wiggled behind the tower of boxes and bags. "Not a problem, Nami-swan! I picked things out as we went as to not waste your precious time!" He cooed. "Ah, there's only one more thing I need to pick up!"

Sanji turned to the man at the general goods stand, voice back to his neutral tone. "I'll need a bottle of cayenne hot sauce as well, please."

* * *

Just as Sunny was losing hope, he bumped into a familiar face—Usopp! The harried little shrew pokemon ran over to his friend and tapped his leg to let him know he was here.

"Sunny?" Usopp looked around, expecting to see the others. "What are you doing alone?"

"Quu," Sunny whistled, unsure himself.

The liar adjusted a large box heaped with scraps of metal to one hand so he could jab a thumb at himself with the other. "Alright, stay with me, Usopp: Friend and Protector of Animals will make sure you don't get grabbed or stepped on by anyone!"

Sunny decided to take the reassurance and dogged his feet while he finished his purchases when the air seemed to change. People were moving, tension plumed in the air like spores, the sounds of the town seemed to go from loud ambiance to low whispers and shuffles.

Sunny looked around the confusion. Humans were puppeted by their emotions, Sunny's mother had always told him. So much that if there is a disaster, you wouldn't need to feel the earth to sense it, you could feel it from the humans hanging in the air.

And a group of people this large, there was a weighty blanket of must laying stagnant over the town in mere seconds, putting Sunny on edge. People tended to rationalize themselves out of their fear and into something else. And Sunny felt the phenomena stronger than he should have—all the anticipation, anxiety.

Sunny called up to Usopp, treading on his feet as he started back to the square he'd come from. Usopp protested his surprise but followed the fire shrew with his supplies. Sunny was running now as the people had run out of space to walk further, making it significantly easier to pass through their legs. Sunny's heart pounded with the nervousness of a person passing through a herd of rhino liable to scatter any moment. He scarcely ducked out of the way of a fast approaching foot and bolted forward.

Sunny heard a voice high above the crowd say, "I met a few business partners at the tavern the other day, they made my plan much easier to enact. And here we are! My revenge!"

He couldn't hear Usopp anymore, but he could still double back if it were nothing.

A high-pitched voice said from somewhere else, "Enough gloating, boss! Kill him!"

Once he was closer to the front, he climbed onto an abandoned food cart at the edge of the plaza and looked out to see what the commotion had been.

High above them, at the top of a scaffolding, stood a clown-faced pirate wielding a scimitar, foot pressed against the back of Sunny's captain. His head was on a chopping block as he grinned down at the crowd as if it was all a big joke.

Sunny picked up Zoro's yell, and Sanji's too. They were closest to the front, calling for their captain.

Sunny's blood didn't freeze, it boiled. Flames shot from his back in the moments before the scimitar swung down. Powerless as Zoro and Sanji to cover the incredible distance between them and their captain. At the point of that scimitar was the end of their bright, wild captain and the end of their exciting adventure to the mythic Grand Line. The scimitar took a downward arc as it began to rain.

"Zoro, Nami, Usopp, Sunny, Sanji, I'm sorry—I'm dead!" It was the end.

But the story had only just started, it couldn't end. 

That moment, the air thickened like syrup and a bright light like frayed rope appeared before the crowd, striking the scaffolding above them. There was a loud groan of heated metal lost in the thunderclap a moment later and the platform lay destroyed on the ground.

People screamed and took off as far as they could get from the chaos. Sunny could see the burning wreckage as he clung to the umbrella stand as people clearing out of the way. A man with a thin build, tan skin and multi-patterned robes with a floppy hat pulled himself off the ground, holding his head. He'd been very close to the wreckage.

Sunny jumped off the cart and began to make his way toward the scaffolding where Luffy had been. It wasn't too late, was it? He thought desperately. He could hear the shouts of his crewmates again too. The gaudy, thin man dusted himself off. All of a sudden, the smoking rubble shifted and a yellow hat and the sly smile of their captain appeared.

"Hey, Luffy!" Zoro shouted.

The ostentatious tenor-voiced man looked up in surprise. "Eh? Buggy couldn't finish them off? I'll fix that!" The man lifted a hand, muttering something and a small blaze of fire began forming in his hand. Luffy noticed and tried to pry his arm out that was stuck under a warped steel beam.

Sunny ran as fast as he could. That was fire! He knew how destructive that could be—he could still imagine trees aflame and cinders rising from parched grass like fireflies on the day his mother and he had been separated from their family.

Luffy may not have been hurt by that lightning but he could definitely be hurt by fire! Just as the ball of fire was released, Sunny jumped up between them, head lowered toward the ground so his back would take the brunt of the attack. The fire-type flew back a few feet from the impact, back smoldering slightly, but pulled himself back up to his feet and shook off the blow. His back was nearly fireproof—it would take more than that to beat him at his own game.

"Waha?" The strange man exclaimed, his thick braid of orange hair looking frazzled from his own attack. "You withstood an attack from the mighty possessor of the mage-mage fruit? The renown Wizard of the East Blue, Sundries!"

Sunny heard a pop from the rubble behind him and saw Luffy had finally freed himself from the steel beam. He gave the cyndaquil a sooty grin. "Thanks, Sunny! You sure saved me!"

Sunny smiled back and felt a swell of confidence flare in him. He had protected his captain, even if he knew it wouldn't affect him much. He had _helped._

"Luffy, you _idiot!"_ Zoro said as the green-head and blond slowed to a stop next to their captain.

"Oh hey, guys! Have you seen Buggy? I need to settle something with him," Luffy said, cracking his knuckles.

"I don't think that will be an issue," Sanji said, jabbing a thumb toward the still-smoking unconscious clown that had been trying to kill Luffy just a minute earlier. Luffy frowned.

"Guys! We need to get back to the Merry!" Usopp yelled a little ways away, running in place. He seemed to have abandoned his box of metal scrap and instead filled his pockets with a few handfuls. Nami had evidently found him and was standing next to him, looking like she might bolt at any moment. Usopp was pointing to a group of approaching white-clad people charging at them. "Catch those guys! The kid said they were pirates!"

"And terrorists and _liars!"_ A black-haired woman added, drawing her sword.

The lightning had brought a drizzle of rain and an overcast sky. Sunny briefly considered fixing the miserable weather but thought better of it—there wasn't enough time for that amount of concentration.

"Run!" Sanji shouted, pulling Zoro in the correct direction when he attempted to run further into the town.

They started sprinting toward the docks through a wide alley devoid of people when a man holding a jitte weapon and two cigars in his mouth slid in front of the opening of the alley. On the other side, the tall, shiny woman with the iron mace appeared. Both offenders looked at each other in shock for a moment before turning back toward them and charged.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> They were late to Loguetown, so Buggy had time to make another ally.


	8. Mad Dash to Merry

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny enters a fire fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In regards to Sunny’s stats, yes, I know them, I love meta information. Funny thing is, I’m not using too many pokemon stats since I don’t know how to calculate them. That said, I do know that Sunny is level 7 currently and has a Timid nature, and decent SpA, Atk, and Speed IVs.

Sanji charged forward to stop the white-haired man's jitte. "Keep going, this one's got a seastone weapon!" He yelled.

Zoro stopped the swordwoman's blade with a look of concentration.

The tall, shiny mace-wielding woman shouted at Luffy, "You brat! I'm going to get my revenge!"

"I don't know who you are!" Luffy yelled irritably. He wound up a punch and walloped her in the head, sending her flying back into the side of the alley.

"Keep moving!" Nami shouted as mud splashed behind her and Sunny had to duck to the side to avoid the worst of it. Though a little bit of rain wouldn't hurt him, he hated getting wet. And besides, he was starting to look like a swamp monster.

"Not so fast, Straw Hat!" The woman pulled herself up from broken pieces of crates. "I'm not done with you."

Luffy adjusted the hat on his head. "You three go ahead. Sanji, Zoro, and I will meet you there," he said.

Usopp nodded. "Good luck!" And we started running again, me blindly following the two through twists and turns of the streets.

"Lahaha! I've got you now!" Sundries, the man who had eaten the mage-mage fruit, jumped out at them half a dozen feet in front of Nami, who skidded to a stop and ducked away with a scream, narrowly avoiding being hit with a bolt of energy.

Nami pulled out her bo staff and swung. Sundries dodged and pushed her over before putting distance between them again.

"Run!" Usopp said, reaching over to help Nami up.

Sunny looked over the magical man with layers of differently patterned clothes. The man stared back, looking slightly nervous as he remembered Sunny shrugging off his attack earlier.

"CYN! Cynda-quil quil!" Sunny squeaked, motioning his head toward the stretch of water that was just within view a couple of blocks further down.

"Sunny, come on!" Usopp said as the two of them moved away.

Sunny shook his head. _Go ahead, I'll make sure he doesn't follow.._

Nami stared at him for a moment, mouth open, but then pulled the protesting Usopp along.

"Staying behind, are you, little mouse?" Sundries said. "Be vanquished knowing that you've been defeated by the great Wizard of the East Blue!" With that, he sent forth another shot of fire, that Sunny dodged and it fizzled out on the wet bricks. Sunny moved quickly, having the advantage of the slippery surface with his low center of gravity and four legs. If he played his cards right, he could bring him to the ground and buy enough time for Nami and Usopp before making his escape.

He threw himself into Sundries' chest in an effort to displace him. The redhead stumbled back with a yelp as Sunny's head impacted the wizard's stomach with surprising force, sending him doubling over slightly. Sunny put some distance between them again and spun around again, preparing fire in his mouth and throat, then smothering it. He held his breath one second, two seconds…

"Get frostbite, little mouse!" Sundries reached out his palm and a burst of ice sprung from his hand to the surprise of Sunny. _He can use ice and fire?_

_-_ three seconds. Sunny exhaled out his nose and a thick cloud of smoke and soot enveloped the two combatants. At the same time, he felt ice and sleet hit the front of his chest and feet with fury. He couldn't remember the cold very well, just the memory during his sleuth's migration of catching a big snowflake on his nose and it immediately melting away. This was nothing like the fond memory of the briefest chilly weather. It clung to his fur and froze and he found he couldn't move his front feet to the ground. A trapped cyndaquil was a dead cyndaquil!

The smoke still billowed around them. He could faintly see another light. _Another_ type of attack! Shivering, he didn't think he could take another hit like that. His sprung up on his back, even if it risked being seen, and his temperature elevated past what would kill a human until his skin was the temperature of hot tarmac in mid-summer and the fire on his back, unbeknownst to him, and for the first time, rocketed past a thousand degrees, burning a brighter red than ever before.

The ice freezing his paws to the ground steamed. As the smokescreen began to clear, the ice around Sunny completely sublimated.

Another attack whiffed toward the pokemon, a bright ball—electricity this time. Sunny dove to the side, covering his face as stray bolts of electricity loosed as the orb of energy hit a few feet away. The fallen rain directly around him had mostly evaporated with Sunny's surge, preventing the electricity from reaching farther than it should.

"Did I hit it?" The wizard called as if Sunny would reply in the negative or affirmative.

The smoke suffused from the ground finally, the air still gray and ashy. Suddenly, the green-haired man rounded the corner. He approached Sunny and Sundries in a run.

"Huh. I knew that attack looked familiar so I followed the smoke, looks like I was right." He stopped twenty feet from the two fighters, eyeing the raging flames on Sunny's back and noting that Sunny hadn't looked away from his opponent, though the human was eyeing Zoro cautiously.

"I can't believe you're fighting again." Zoro didn't sound impressed. "Luffy and the air-headed blond went ahead, must have missed you. You planning on taking care of this?"

Sunny growled almost imperceptibly. He could tell, it would take maybe two good hits to take this man down. The man was slumped slightly and clutching his side. Maybe just one hit would wind him enough to take him down. He wasn't nearly as strong as the fishmen had been.

A sigh. "Fine, take care of this. I'm going ahead." Zoro said finally, taking off running toward the ship.

Sunny leered at the man, who stumbled back in surprise as the strange burning rodent opened its long, slanted red eyes and watched him with his thin white pupils.

"What?" Sundries growled, his back hitting the brick wall. He prepared another spell. "You're a little devil, aren't you?"

The cyndaquil charged, dodging to the side of the wizard's electric spell, and throwing himself not into his stomach but towards his face, now that he was slumped, he could reach, and impacted with all the weight of his body and fire. Sundries' head impacted against the brick wall. The building electricity in Sundries' hand fizzled out as his mouth opened slightly and his eyes fluttered closed, collapsing into a seated position. Sunny landed close by, huffing for breath. Sunny stayed there for a moment before jumping off Sundries' lap and running down the street toward the rest of the crew, throwing a glance behind him at the unconscious man.

In on the dock in front of the ship, with his arms crossed looking stoic, was Zoro. When he saw Sunny pelting toward him, covered in mud and soot, eyes slitted but content, Zoro smiled.

"About time, campfire," he said turning around. Sunny charged over and climbed onto his shoulder with muddy paws and Zoro easily climbed onto the ship just as Sanji and Usopp raised anchor.

 

As Loguetown disappeared behind fog, Nami gathered everyone from the various rigging and they were securing and laid out a poster. Everyone, layered in grime and mud, gathered around it curiously. It was a picture of Luffy grinning wildly with 'WANTED: Straw Hat Luffy' printed on it. Sunny wasn't sure what to make of it, but everyone else balked a little bit, though Luffy chuckled and Zoro gave a small smile.

Nami didn't look pleased at all. "Luffy, this isn't funny!" He jabbed her finger into the poster. "You're wanted _dead or alive_ for 22 million berri! The Marines working with Arlong must have found out about what happened! That means what Buggy was trying to do…" she continued on, voice strained, "if you're caught—the government might try to do to you too!"

"Shishishi! Then I won't let them catch me!" Luffy said.

"Honestly, Nami, you can't expect a pirate not to get a bounty. Consider how much chaos Luffy wrought, there's no way the Marines wouldn't find out." Zoro reasoned.

Nami sighed. "There's more." She slid the paper over, revealing a second one.

"Quil?" Sunny said aloud in surprise. He was looking at a picture of himself holding half a coconut with one of Luffy's feet half-cropped out of the picture.

"Strawhat Mascot. Wanted: Dead or Alive," Nami stated. The air was a little heavier now. Zoro heaved out a sigh. Luffy grin slipped into thought.

"Hey, look though, Sunny's bounty is only _44 berri_ ," Usopp pointed out amusedly. "I didn't know they went that low."

Sanji took a drag of his cigarette. "It still puts undue attention on someone who shouldn't have it," he said. "It's more symbolic for the marines. They're making sure people remember him. No one's going to forget the crew that has the East Blue's highest and lowest bounty."

"Well, I think these are great!" Luffy finally decided, giving Sunny a pat on the head. "We got our first bounty! The Strawhats are worth 22 million and 44 berri! I'm gonna put these up in the kitchen!"

"Oh no you're—" Sanji started after him.

"Not so fast. Before you all do anything, get yourselves cleaned up, you're all so muddy!"

Zoro scowled with mud splattered up to his knees, on one shoulder and his cheek.

"I wouldn't have gotten muddy if _someone_ hadn't climbed onto me while we were escaping," he argued, pointing at Sunny. The muddy fire-type suddenly interested himself in staring at the mast like it held the answers to the world. It wasn't his fault his legs were short and he definitely couldn't outrun or jump onto the ship with his height. And wow, the mast was _really tall._

"It doesn't matter why you got muddy, you are! Clean. Up."

Luffy and Usopp hurried off with the bounty posters. Sanji followed close behind.

With a growl at both Nami and Sunny, Zoro slowly followed the others into the boy's bathrooms.

_Alright, I think I'm in the clear,_ he thought, as he slowly moved away from the fiery redhead.

"Not so fast, you," Nami warned, equally terrifying, causing Sunny to freeze in his muddy tracks. She picked him up, holding him at an arms-length, though she already had dirt and mud in her shirt and hair. He really was muddy, with splotches all over his coat, muzzle, and even on the top of his head. "We need to clean you off too."

Sunny struggled, splattering more mud onto her, but there was nothing he could do, short of flaming her and incurring her wrath.

"It's okay, it's not saltwater and it'll be a shower not a bath, so your devil fruit powers won't be affected."

_What are you talking about?_ He complained internally, _do I look like a rubberman to you?_

Of course, she didn't understand, because he was on a crew where no one could understand a word he said.

She brought the shrew pokemon into her bathroom, spotless, but smaller compared to the boys', and closed the door. She shed her muddy clothes and turned on the shower and it steamed like a pot of tea. She took a relaxed breath and stepped in, cleaning herself off and washing her hair while the cyndaquil contented himself with laying in a dry but warm spot in the corner of the room.

Eventually, Nami stepped out of the shower, donned a fluffy bathrobe, and turned her attention toward him. It was like getting kidnapped abruptly from the Baratie all over again.

_This! Is! Not! A! Good! Idea!_ Sunny cried, trying to get it in her head before he entered the small-pounding-rain-room. _Give me some sand to roll around in and I'll be perfectly clean!_ But even his most clear and overt cynda-speech meant nothing to her.

"Hang on, Sunny, I just need to get you clean, it'll just be a second—"

The first barrage of water hit his back, bouncing off and wetting his fur, Sunny felt it run close to his eyes and screwed them shut as they stung. Small sparks of fire emitted from his back to fend off the rain and he had to fight to quell that instinct that would only exhaust him. The water was tolerable for a few moments but the sheer amount of it made it skyrocket uncomfortable to intolerable in less than ten seconds. The water started to burn like ice and soaked the heat that kept him moving within him.

The pressure of the falling water making it hard to find breath and blinding him. In the time it took for him to get completely soaked, he felt freezing cold, exhausted, and desperate enough to wrench himself from Nami's grip throw himself onto the lowered toilet cover, onto the sink and into the open vent where the steam was rising.

Sunny heard Nami shout in surprise after him but he moved instinctually, half-blind from his irritated eyes, separating himself from the source of water as quickly as he could.

The vent went a few feet forward, claustrophobic as it pushed from every side, but he scooted towards, then up a little ways, but Sunny could brace himself against it with the sheer instinct to get away, climbed the three feet of feet upward, then charged the horizontal surface, barely squeezing through the steaming exit that acted like a chimney to all the steam and heat vents of the ship, and propelling himself out of the deck, numb with cold and shaking like a leaf.

"Hey Sunny! Did you have to take a bath too?" Luffy called from where he was playing with a caterpillar he'd found on Nami's mikan trees.

Sunny stood, unsure of what to do. He felt cold and sick to his stomach.

"Sunnyyyy! Come over and see this cool bug! Eh, Sunny? What are you doing over there?" Luffy popped up off the ground in an easy leap and wandered over.

Sunny closed the distance over to him, stumbling on his feet. Luffy scooped him up and held him to his chest. "Oh, you're shaking! What happened?" Luffy frowned and stuck the soaking Sunny in his shirt, trying to warm him up.

Just then, Nami burst out the doors to her cabin in her robe, looking slightly relieved when she saw Sunny's head poking out of Luffy's shirt. Zoro by now had an eye open in curiosity.

"Oh, there he is, he ran out of the room…is he okay?" Nami asked worriedly.

"I dunno, he's shaking a lot and kinda cold," Luffy said, giving Sunny a pet on the head.

Sanji walked over with a glass of fresh lemonade for Nami, who accepted it without really paying attention. "You didn't bathe him, right? He's a devil fruit user after all," Sanji pointed out, looking at the miserable pokemon.

Nami shook her head. "No, he wasn't submerged at all. It was a shower, which shouldn't affect a devil fruit user, and even if it did, he would have gone limp like Luffy, not run away," she looked toward Luffy for confirmation, who gave a hum of agreement, wrapping his arms around his cold crew mate.

"But he didn't act like that, he acted like he was being burned, or getting put out like…an actual fire getting wet."

"What are you saying, that he might not be a devil fruit user?" Sanji asked incredulously.

"Well, we'd need to find some sea prism stone to confirm it, but yes, what I'm thinking he isn't just an animal that's eaten a devil fruit, but he's tied with fire somehow without one. The Grand Line is full of mysteries and… he might be something none of us have seen before."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. I did a little fire-based research and the lowest, darkest red flames are about 950F (525C), considerably lower than a fully burning campfire, but then again, those take a long time to get that hot. Babyquils probably burn about 950. It’s more a threat display than anything else.  
> 2\. Zoro. Zoro has been concerned that once they hit the Grand Line, Sunny going to be a big liability. He respects Luffy’s decision but he’s very protective of both their dreams and views Sunny as a potential risk. But when he sees him fight like he does, as someone aptly said, like a ‘ferocious brat’ well, that changes things.  
> 3\. Oda ruled that devil fruit users can take showers without issue as long as there's not too much standing water.


	9. The Grand Line

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny meets a new friend.

Nami told Luffy to put Sunny in the cabin after the shower debacle. Luffy took his smallest crewmember downstairs and fluffed up some blankets for him, wrapping the now calm, but tired pokemon like a burrito and setting him down in his usual spot. Luffy sat next to him against the wall and gave his head a pet. Sunny looked up at him, sensing the unusual mood of his captain.

"Thanks for watching out for Nami and Usopp, Sunny. I heard you defeated Undies," Luffy grinned. "That was a cool island! I want to go back someday when I'm King of the Pirates!"

Somehow, Sunny didn't think that was a good idea, so he just added a hesitant "Quilll…"

They both heard the door to the bunk open again and Zoro climbed down the steps. Zoro gave them a grim smile.

"Luffy," he began, standing in the middle of the dim room.

Luffy gave him a smile and his attention from where he was sitting. "Yes, Zoro?"

Zoro exhaled. "Back in Loguetown, when you were up on the scaffolding. You didn't know you would be saved."

"Nope. That was pretty lucky though!"

"Luffy, you almost died," Zoro said. Luffy frowned slightly but didn't interrupt his friend. "You have five people who depend on you now. So I'm sorry that I wasn't there to protect you like I should have. But I don't want to see you resign yourself to something like that ever again. Is that something the freest man alive would do?"

Luffy smiled softly and stood up, dusting off his shorts while he moved his straw hat to shade over his eyes. He stood there quietly for a moment, Sunny and Zoro's eyes glued to him.

When he looked up, he had a small, confident grin on his face. "You're right, Zoro. I won't give up, because all of us are going to reach the end of the Grand Line together."

Zoro's grim look crept into a genuine smile, it was the most pleased Sunny had ever seen Zoro. "That's all I needed to hear, Captain." And Zoro headed back up to the deck.

* * *

Nami pulled the book he had been carrying and put it on the table. "I got this on my island. It's a book of animals all over the world. I thought if it was anywhere, we'd find what Sunny is in here." She started flipping through pages, passing creatures like the hooooooorse, lapahns, giant tigers, bananagators, and the kung fu dugongs. "But there's nothing like him in here. No fire quills or anything. The closest thing I could find is this—an echidna." She pointed to the illustration of the mundane animal, a small animal related to the hedgehog that did, in fact, resemble Sunny. "But it doesn't have any strange abilities and it's small and not blue."

"If he's not a devil fruit user and he's not an animal from the Grand Line, what is he?" Sanji looked at her.

* * *

Nami walked over to Usopp after breakfast the next morning, giving him a little wave in greeting.

Usopp was tinkering with a few gears and bands that Nami didn't have a clue about.

"Morning, Nami," he greeted chipperly.

"Good morning, Usopp. I was hoping I could ask you something."

Usopp looked up in surprise. "Sure, what's up?"

Nami pulled out her bo staff, the thin wooden pole had been handy but with what they were up against now, well it wasn't enough. _She_ wasn't enough. "I was hoping you'd help me with an upgrade."

* * *

The Strawhat pirates had been on the water for three days when Nami declared that they were approaching their target. Sunny didn't quite understand what this mountain rising from the sea was, or why they needed to cross it to get to the Grand Line but he didn't exactly have the option to get clarification. They were all in the kitchen eating breakfast, Sunny in a yellow raincoat Nami had bought him in Loguetown, while she led the discussion on plans and defended her food from Luffy simultaneously.

Sunny had figured out that his food was more or less safe from the greedy rubber arms. Sanji had surprised him with an even hotter hot sauce and his meals were almost always had some. While Luffy could tolerate the heat, there were certainly easier plates to prey on without the pain. And if he tried anyway, Sunny would send his hand back with a nip.

Yes, Sunny was getting quite used to this strange life at sea. He'd been with the Strawhat pirates for two weeks now and he had lots of fun every day and he cared for his strange, two-legged friends too. The kitchen was full of laughter or hijinks and always plenty of delicious food and the two bounty posters were hanging up on the wall. Nami and Sanji didn't love it, but Sunny had to admit, seeing them there took away the fear of them.

Nami stabbed down at Luffy's hand with a fork and Luffy stopped and sweated slightly as he looked a the utensil buried firmly in the wood between two of his fingers. His arm retracted with a snap.

"According to Buggy's map, we're about a day from Reverse Mountain now, but even I am not sure what to expect, or _how_ the Merry is supposed to go over a mountain. So we need to be careful and work together for whatever comes. Zoro, I want you on the rigging, Usopp man the rudder, Sunny, you'll be lookout on the sides and let me know if there are any rocks or obstacles. Sanji and Luffy will be doing whatever I need you to do."

"It would be my _honor,_ Nami-swannn!"

"Couldn't we just come from the south and not have to go up the mountain?" Zoro pointed out.

"No, we need to sail across the mystery mountain, it's the coolest thing to do!" Luffy insisted.

"Coolest? You want to do this dangerous thing because it's the coolest option?"

"No, it's the coolest thing _because_ it's the dangerous option," Sanji sighed an exhale of smoke.

Nami almost started into Luffy before she abruptly stopped, blinking slightly and getting out of her seat. "It should be storming now."

"Nami-swan, remember, Sunny sent the storm away half an hour ago," Sanji said sweetly.

Nami opened the door, peering out at the peaceful, sunny weather. "No, Sunny's ability seems only to divert the weather a little bit. We should still be hearing the thunder if we're getting close to Reverse Mountain. So it should be—oh no!" Nami ran outside, followed shortly by the rest of the crew.

"Oh no, oh no," she cried, looking out at the still waters, and the storm still raging in the distant horizon. Her blood ran cold. "We're on the Calm Belt!"

Suddenly, the water started to ripple and the boat began to shake.

"Eh? A waterquake?" Luffy exclaimed.

"No—it's—" Nami's words cut off as the crew felt the sensation of rising, and rising into the air as water fell in heavy sheets off of a black and white mountain rising out of the water, until two green eyes the size of the ship facing them as their caravel found herself beached on the nose of a giant sea king hundreds of feet in the air. A dozen other sea kings raised their monstrous heads out of the water, not even regarding them.

The crew was absolutely petrified in shock, even Luffy looked like he had just shit bricks. Sunny eyed the monstrous beings, then looked over toward the vivid blue expanse of the ocean, where he could see the curve of the world, and keeled over in a dead faint.

* * *

Sunny came to a minute later to the aftermath. Everyone lay astrew on the deck, Usopp foaming from the mouth and everyone heaped on top of each other. He was tucked under Sanji's arm and they were back in the storm.

Usopp popped up from his prone position, eyes wild, getting out the words he hadn't been able to get out earlier. "M-M-MONSTER!" He screeched, then looked around, where the rain and wind were buffeting them again, and Zoro, Sanji, and Luffy were picking themselves up, and Nami was crying holding onto the mast, but the waters around them were decidedly sea king-less.

"I knew they would run away after, after all, the giant goldfish I slew must have told tales to them about my great prow—prow—WHAT IS THAT?"

Ussop's eyes bulged out as he pointed a shaking figure into the fog in front of them. Nami squinted and held a hand up to see through the driving rain.

Sunny looked around from his position under Sanji's arm from the shelter of his little yellow raincoat. Nami's eyes had gone wide and he felt Sanji stiffen like a board.

"That…can't be…" Sanji breathed.

"We're headed straight towards it!" Usopp wailed.

"That means we're going the right way, Nami, what are we doing?" Zoro came up to the group and firmly pulled Nami out of her shock.

Sunny leaped out of Sanji's grip and bounded toward the bow of the ship when he saw it, larger than anything he'd ever seen. Larger, even, than this world's sea kings he'd just seen, rising from the water, a giant rock wall not fifty feet ahead of them.

"Everyone, stations!" Nami shouted. Sanji and Usopp struggled with the rudder as it bucked underneath them. They threw more force into it.

_Craaaack._ Sanji and Usopp looked at each other as the rudder snapped in their hands. Sunny clung onto the railing with all his might, shielding himself from getting hit with the roaring water that was sweeping across the deck in waves.

"Everyone, stations!" He heard Nami cry out. "Luffy, the side!"

Luffy charged off the deck, holding his hat, and inflated like a balloon just before Merry's bow hit the side of the upwards raging river. Sanji and Usopp manned the rudder and Mery shot upwards through the water, clear of the sides of the mountain.

Luffy jumped to the other side and corrected their course again, huffing for breath as they finally reached the peak.

They felt like they could see the whole world from where they were, on their sides, the unsurmountable sides for the Red Line. Behind them the raging storms of the East Blue guarding Reverse Mountain. Even a thick spotted tail of a sea king slipping into the water. Before them was crystal clear water, sparkling in the noonday sun, not a cloud in sight, and clear fresh air.

It lasted only a moment before the bow dipped down again, and they were flying down the mountain with more speed than a caravel should ever achieve. Nami ran over and grabbed Sunny as the speed became too much for him to hold onto the slippery railing and braced them the best she could and the wind raced past them. She managed to open her eyes against the wind pressure and nearly screamed again. At the mouth of the river feeding into the Grand Line, was a large, dark shadow a hundred feet long.

"SEA KING!" She shouted as everyone rushed over again. "Stop the ship!"

"We can't!" Usopp and Sanji wailed.

_WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIII_

Everyone froze as the ship continued to careen downward. "What was that?" Zoro said in an unusually small voice.

_WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII_

They turned to the dark shadow, emerging from the water as Merry made her way off the mountain, straight towards the shadow.

"SOMEONE GET THE CANNON!"

Sunny suddenly felt waves of discontent, pain, and most of all loneliness as the great being showed it's small eyes, blue back, and ribbed white stomach. The mouth opened to show its teeth as it's giant mouth opened up, fifty feet wider than the Merry Merry had skimmed between the massive creature's jaws and now all it had to do was bite down and crush them unless they continued their descent into its stomach. Sunny ran and jumped on the figurehead, heart racing.

"IT HAS TEETH!"

"GET IT BEFORE IT SHUTS IT'S MOUTH!"

"I'LL PUNCH IT!"

_WHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—_

_"_ _Great Wailord—please stop!"_ Sunny called out as loud as he could. The loud wailing stopped. The Merry stopped, as the water in the Wailord's mouth stilled. Usopp, who had rolled the cannon out, stopped as the voice cut out. " _We didn't mean to disturb you. Please."_ Sunny continued from where he stood on Merry's figurehead, shaking as he spoke to the cavernous throat of a wailord many times larger than normal.

Slowly, the mouth withdrew from them, the suffocating hot air of the wailord's mouth gave way to fresh air as the pokemon submerged itself carefully removing itself from the ship. Only the tip of the crows nest was brushed by it's teeth.

Nami collapsed to the floor, as Luffy looked around in confusion. "Where'd he go? I wanted to fight him?"

Zoro looked at Sunny, who was still looking out to the water, suspiciously. "Sunny, did you _do_ something?"

Sunny didn't have a chance to attempt to give a response when the shadow reappeared again and slowly, carefully, a blue, shiny back started to grow in the water, until it was two hundred feet long and over a hundred feet wide, and rose up and up until small eyes the size of a dinner table appeared and fixed themselves on Sunny.

" _How do you know my name?"_ The wailord asked, then inched closer, until his flat head was nearly within reach of Sunny and he finally noticed the gnarled scars across the front of his head, each one several times larger than his own body. He heard gasps from behind him as well. The wailord didn't seem to need his answer. As he rumbled in shock, " _Cyndaquil? I haven't seen one of our kind in so long."_

Sunny felt almost a strange urge to reach out and touch the scarred, enormous pokemon. His mind was moving faster than the wind on Reverse Mountain " _I—I haven't seen anyone—I, did you get moved in the Big Displacement? Are there others?"_

Wailord rumbled. _"Slow down. I haven't spoken to any of our kind since I arrived…fifty years ago."_

_"_ _Fifty years—?"_ Sunny couldn't believe it. The event in the forest in Johto that had transported everyone in a mile radius to this strange world had been just over four months ago. _"What—"_

"Sunny, are you talking to that whale?" Sanji's voice came from behind him and Sunny jumped, realizing this friends had gathered themselves and were standing behind him, watching the whale with cautious curiosity (except Luffy, who immediately jumped onto the figurehead with Sunny and introduced himself.)

"Sunny! Ask the whale what happened to his head," Luffy demanded.

Sunny looked at his captain, then back at the wailord. _"Great Wailord, what happened? It looks like a horrible injury."_

_"_ _Not Wailord, I was given a name by my family, just like you did, my name is Laboon._

_"_ _Your family? There's more of you?"_ Sunny asked with equal parts excitement and dread. He couldn't imagine a pod of wailord this large.

_"_ _They are not like me, they're humans, not trainers, but pirates, like you have._ _They left a long time ago…and I'm waiting for my family to return,"_ Laboon answered.

_Laboon's been here all this time waiting for his crew to return_ , Sunny finally understood. He shivered at the sheer magnitude of Laboon's faithfulness as well as the tragedy. Part of him wanted to ask the great whale where he thought they had gone, but he knew he shouldn't.

Instead, he said in a quiet voice, _"I'm not sure I would do the same."_

_"_ _You're young, you won't know what you are capable of doing until it comes to it,"_ Laboon told him, eyes roving over to the Red Line with sorrow and frustration.

Sunny turned back to his friends, completely stumped on how to reiterate any information back to them. If he were back in his world, sometimes trainers who were in sync enough with their pokemon could understand them. This did not seem to be the case in this world, as _no one_ on the crew could tell the difference between when he said "c _y_ n" and "cyn" which was the simplest of distinctions for pokemon kind.

How could he possibly explain that he and the giant wailord behind him were from another world, sent here half a century apart?

Before he had a chance at explaining, Sunny heard a _whoosh_ to his right. He spun around, eyes opening in surprise.

_WHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL_

Sunny watched as a large, barbed metal spike impacted into Laboon's side, catching three feet into his thick blue hide as a thick metal rope pulled taught. The Straw Hats, braced themselves against the guardrail as Laboon's four flippers impacted in the water, as he tried to pull away.

Another harpoon sailed through the air and impacted into Laboon's side a distance away.

"It's coming from that ship! Luffy!" Nami cried out, pointing to an approaching tug boat previously hidden by Laboon's body.

"Yosh!" Luffy secured his hat to his head and shot out an arm towards it, grabbing Sanji and Zoro as he went. "How dare they attack the mystery whale!" Even though he had wanted to punch the whale only minutes before.

The three were flung toward the tug boat, where three figures were aiming a third harpoon, stopping them in their tracks.

_"_ _Wail—Laboon! Stop, let me help!"_ Sunny shouted desperately as Laboon continued to bellow in pain and his flippers thrashed in the water. " _Laboon!"_

I felt Nami come up to my side, hands up placatingly. "We want to help! We won't let them hurt you!"

Finally, Laboon stopped thrashing, sunk a dozen feet farther into the water, so his eyes were just above the surface and bumped his head against the figurehead of the Merry in compliance. Before Sunny could rethink his decision, he climbed onto the dense creature's nose, running up to the top of his head easily enough with the large scars. Nami followed behind him, bo staff held in one hand as Usopp put a foot up on the guard rail, leveling his slingshot toward the tug boat.

As Sunny reached the crest of Laboon's head, he saw a woman with a long teal ponytail skating across the harpoon line with a bladed fan and chain and spiked poles strapped to her back. Sunny immediately bristled fire when he saw her.

_She was hunting Laboon._

 


	10. A Wailord's Tale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny protects

Zoro deflected a cannon heading for the ship as they landed on the deck. Nami and Sunny charged across Laboon's slippery skin. Just as the blue-haired woman skated off the harpoon line. The fire-type's back burst into flames as he saw the injuries Laboon had.

Sunny charged at her, hitting her legs so she lost balance and fell on her stomach on Laboon. She gathered her wits a moment later, when she flipped around and parried Nami's bo staff with her bladed fan, and kicked her away. In a slick motion most impressive for a biped, she shifted her weight to her shoulders and was back on her feet in a flash. She lashed out at him, fury in her cold eyes, her fan extending on the chain. Had he not assumed it had a range, it would have pierced his legs. Instead, Sunny pulled back on his back paws in time and reached to grab the chain, channeling the heat as he held it in his mouth and paws.

When the woman tried to jerk it back, he skidded but held on with his full 18-pound might. Nami struck her in the back with her bo staff with a look of fierce determination. Sunny could tell even with what the girl was doing, Nami wasn't happy with this fight. But to him, it didn't matter. A human, like any pokemon, was defined by their actions—not gender, beauty, or age.

The blue-haired woman finally regained her composure and yanked back her fan, flinched, and adjusted the grip as she touched the hot metal near the fan. A small pit of disappointment grew in Sunny's stomach. His attack hadn't been anywhere near strong enough. But he knew now wasn't the time to lose himself in that.

Nami and Sunny positioned themselves on opposite sides of the girl, circling her slowly. They had to act fast, he could feel the minute vibrations of Laboon trying to prevent himself from flailing for their sake. Seeing the final loaded harpoon on the whaling vessel only steeled his resolve. Rage burned in his ears. The blue-haired poacher slashed out with her fan again, this time, it arched slightly, slicing the cyndaquil's cheek as he tried to move out of the way. In a second, it had returned to her hand in time for her use it to block Nami's strike again. She was strong.

On the tug boat, Luffy lifted his foot in the air and brought it down on the ship with his Axe attack, Sanji snuffed out the fuses on the lit cannons with a foot. Zoro sliced through two harpoon lines before the man onboard jumps in to stop him. The man was sorely out-matched and desperately looking for something to salvage the situation.

Nami and Sunny moved carefully, this woman was used to being dangerous and diving in for his regular attacks would not end well for him. He growled in frustration. _It would have to be a last resort_ , he decided.

Then he heard a low rumble below them.

" _It's from your stomach, the spot between your stomach and lungs, it's always been there."_

What was he saying? _He must be talking to me,_ Sunny realized, _I'm the only one that can understand._ For a moment, he thought Laboon was referring to his own bleeding wounds.

" _And it feels warm. It's your core, little cyndaquil."_

 _Oh,_ Sunny paused in his movement and the woman's eyes darted to him warily, preparing her bladed fan. He knew that feeling, that warm spot Laboon was talking about. Sunny pushed into it.

_"_ _Your inner strength. For me, it is a torrent of water, for you—"_

Sunny fed the warmth there instead of forcing the heat to grow in his mouth. He let the force of energy rise, warming his lungs, and release a ball of fire the size of his head that impacted with the girl, scorching her robes and leaving soot on her hands. She had tried to shield herself with her fan, and it combusted in flames, leaving nothing but a charred metal skeleton as it had taken the brunt of the attack. She fan fell out of her hand, a look of terror on her face.

Sunny could barely believe it himself, that was an ember, he just knew it. And under the sunny weather and the chaos, and Laboon's help, it had exploded forth.

Just as she was about to run, there was a splintering crack and the boat shifted in the water in protest. Luffy.

" _Tell your crew to get off the ship now."_

Sunny nearly jumped in surprise.

 _"_ _Off the boat?"_ Sunny clarified, whipping around to look toward it where his friends were fighting. _What was Laboon planning? Nothing the crew wanted to be caught up in._ He looked toward Nami and frantically gestured to the armored tug boat, miming moving them over to the Merry, Laboon, and stomping on his back.

Suffice to say, Nami fixed her comrade a confused look, her bo staff dropping slightly in her hands. The blue-haired woman took the opportunity to jump back onto the remaining uncut harpoon line and head back to her ship, ignorant of the warning.

Sunny repeated the actions insistently before giving up and shouting as loud as he could toward the boat. He was quiet usually. Cyndaquil by nature are small and hidden. He hadn't ever tried to be loud, it just wasn't done.

Despite that, when he yelled they heard him, and stopped fighting to look at him. Sunny gestured desperately to the Merry as he felt Laboon begin to shift beneath him. The poachers had made a mistake—they underestimated a pokemon. Not only a pokemon, but one deeply respected by every one of pokemonkind that walked or burrowed through the earth, swam the vast waters, or swarmed the endless skies. They had angered a giant. There would be hell to pay.

Nami saw the fear in Sunny's expression and took a guess. "Luffy, Sanji, Zoro—get back to the ship!"

Luffy immediately wrapped an arm around his crewmates and slung them onto the Merry. The woman, who had just reached her boat, and her partner, looking quite beaten up, froze and watched as Laboon came to face them, the still-attached harpoon spinning their boat.

Nami scooped Sunny up and jumped off Laboon's nose as he passed their ship. Usopp blinked and asked, "Wait, what's supposed to happen?"

Laboon moaned and floated further up to the surface with the ease of the lighter-than-water buoyancy of his body. He opened his massive mouth slowly, water pouring off and from in between his teeth. Sunny couldn't suppress a shiver, lost in Nami's much more apparent shake.

_WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIILLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORDDDDDD_

A jet of water over twice as wide as Merry's mast exploded from Laboon's gaping mouth. The poachers bailed out of the ship seconds before what could only be a massive hydro pump slammed into the side of the ship, cratering it. The water shot in every direction, bouncing off the buckling metal and wood; tearing apart the guardrails, cannons, flag, shooting into the water like shrapnel. The tug buckled, taking in seawater at every angle and beginning to sink under the water.

In the wreckage, Sunny could make out two shapes tearing toward the shore. The silence was broken, predictably, by Luffy.

"WHOA! I DIDN'T KNOW WHALES COULD DO THAT! WAY TO GO!"

Sunny braced as the waves rocked their ship. " _Laboon, are you okay?"_

He hummed as the tug started to disappear under waves, then looked at the smaller pokemon with a beady eye. " _I won't let anyone get in the way of my dream-I can't on my pride as a Rumbar Pirate!"_

He breathed a sigh of relief. The large water pokemon was unbelievable in a way he could only hope to achieve someday.

Laboon shot the Straw Hats a wide smile. Then he twitched, twice, three times.

Sanji seemed keyed in too and looked to me for answers.

"You there! What are you doing to Laboon?" The voice was not Laboon, it was human. We all looked around, searching for the voice.

" _Laboon?"_ Sunny hazarded.

"Up here!" The voice was coming from on top of Laboon, but how was that possible when Nami and he had just been up there? A tall, gray-haired man stepped into view on Laboon's head. He was carrying three giant, bloody harpoons over his shoulder as easily as he would a plank of wood. Oh. And he also had a little flower growing on the top of his head.

"You'll regret doing this to Laboon!" He yelled, leveling a finger at the Straw Hats.

"We didn't hurt Laboon, poachers did!" Sunny yelled out, knowing it would do no good. Usopp and Nami began to protest too, as Zoro and Sanji assumed defensive stances. Then Laboon spoke in his bellow.

 _"_ _Crocus, they helped me,"_ Laboon's eyes rose up to look at the old man.

To Sunny's shock, the man Crocus relaxed slightly and dropped the harpoons into the water with a salvo of _splooshes._ Then he jumped into the ship. _Had he-?_ Sunny jumped down from Nami's shoulder and approached him.

He looked oddly comfortable on a stranger's pirate ship.

_"_ _You can understand us?"_

His eyebrows rise in interest. "You're like him, aren't you? So different and stronger and smarter than any animal should be," the intelligent sparkle in his eyes suddenly went blank, "that said, I have no idea what you're saying."

Sunny sunk to the floor like all his hopes of communicating with the crew, exhaling a small tongue of fire. Crocus looked interested again.

"I don't really understand what's happening, why do you have a flower on your head?" Luffy asked, digging a finger into his nose.

" _That's_ what tripped you up?" Sanji yelled.

Crocus laughed out loud. "Why don't we sit down and talk? I have a feeling we're going to have plenty to discuss."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm trying to decide on movies. I do have one movie I'm planning on doing but I want feedback on if/which movies I should do bc if 3-4 people have strong opinions on a movie, it's probably a movie I should be doing. LMK. Thanks again, and please review!


	11. A Natural Conclusion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sunny reluctantly meets an ally

The Strawhat Pirates and Crocus were seated by a campfire at the red sand shore eating a giant pig, Laboon watching over them from further in the water. Crocus explained that the poachers, Mr. 9 and Ms. Wednesday, had been around for more than a week trying to catch Laboon to feed their city. Sunny found he had to fight to stay calm and not to try and find them to teach them a lesson at the mention of that. Humans hunting pokemon was an inexcusable to him, especially when there were so few of them in this world. Crocus had foiled their every attempt at hunting his friend, though. And Sunny had a feeling that after this time, they'd be more than turned off by the idea of trying again.

As the fire shrew climbed off the log next to Luffy and put his back against the campfire with a comfortable sigh, Crocus' shrewd eye switched to him.

Sanji leaned forward, catching the look the old man had and lit his cigarette on the fire.

"You seemed to know something about Sunny back on the ship, can you tell us what?"

Crocus smiled lightly. "Well, it's just a theory, but if I had to guess, these two," he gestured to Laboon and Sunny, "are related."

"What?" Nearly everyone shrieked. Luffy's eyes bugged out of his head. Sunny watched them cooly as they looked at him, a tiny fire mouse, and him, a massive water whale, then gave Crocus a nod of confirmation.

Crocus waved a hand at the crew and clarified, "Not familially, but in the way that this is an animal," he pointed down at the leg of pork he was eating, "and you are human," the crew, "and they are neither," he pointed to Laboon and Sunny. He gave him a small smile, relieved that at least this could be communicated.

Nami exchanged a startled look with Sanji, remembering viscerally her own realization of Sunny's strange nature while she was in Arlong's tower. Sanji remembered several times he'd seen an almost-human like look in their small crewmate. Zoro quirked an eyebrow and Luffy leaned forward on the log. "Whaaat? How do you know?"

"I've known Laboon for a long time now, after fifty years, I can understand him pretty well."

Luffy had stars in his eyes. If he thought it was so cool, maybe they should put a little more effort into learning my language.

"Unfortunately, Sunny speaks entirely in _his_ species name, and if there are others, they probably the same. But Laboon and Sunny don't seem to have a problem understanding each other, or us, so we're the ones behind," Crocus finished, smiling warmly at the whale, who was breaching the surface again, a hundred feet away.

_WAAAAIII._

"They have abilities I've never seen in animals, too. When Laboon was a tenth his size, he was already creating whirlpools big enough to swallow a ship," Crocus recalled fondly. "My own ship is laying at the bottom of the sea right now, too."

"But wait," Sanji said, holding up a hand, "if they're as strong as you say, why didn't Laboon finish them off days ago and why does he have all those massive scars?"

Sunny looked toward Laboon, blue skin outlined by moonlight. A spurt of water streamed from his blowhole like a huff.

"Laboon is very peaceful, there's only one thing he wants to destroy." Crocus thumbed toward the mountainous Red Line from where ti rose from the ocean. In the bright moonlight, it was a shock they didn't see it earlier.

Veining through the craggy red rock were massive cave-like fissures and fifty-foot craters along the wall as far as they could see. What had looked like red water underneath was more likely broken rocks and red sediment, the water now too shallow for the massive whale to approach. Sunny backed up, flinched back as he stepped directly onto a burning log, the horror of the situation becoming apparent. _His own progress was stopping him, wasn't it?_ He was strong enough he could do it, but every time he made progress, he had to move further along the Line. Sunny had thought that the ideal pokemon for a pirate crew would be a water-type but at every turn, Laboon had been too big or too strong. A prickle of anxiety settled over Sunny. It could have been _him_ who couldn't have come on the journey. There were a hundred pokemon who wouldn't fit or be able to live on a ship. Magmar, Onix, Snorlax, Magikarp, Diglett, the list went on and on.

If only Laboon had a trainer, if he had a pokeball, there would never have been a mobility issue and he would never have been left behind.

I was knocked out of my reverie when Nami gave a long pat on my head. They were talking about Laboon's pirate crew now.

Zoro was staring at the wailord. "Fifty years and he doesn't accept that they're dead?"

Luffy's hands clenched at this. From where Sunny was on the ground, he could see him, under the shade of his hat. In the campfire, his eyes reflected their chaos.

"Do you want to go back to your old home?" Crocus asked.

Sunny shook his head.

"Neither does Laboon, he just wants someone to come back."

Laboon glided through the water so smoothly, they nearly didn't hear him until he was lined up with the Red Line. I froze. He was going to try breaking through again in his condition?

Luffy jumped to action, bounding onto the Merry and to our shock, ripping Merry's mast off and charging toward the approaching Laboon. Laboon didn't notice him until they were fifty feet away from each other, Laboon's small black eyes widening.

"LAAAAABBBBBBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNN!" Luffy wound up and slammed into Laboon's head, and yells of shock and disbelief erupted from everyone but Zoro.

The force stopped Laboon enough that he only slammed into the side with the volume of a thunderclap.

After a deep breath, "FIGHT MEEEEE!"

The surprise on the whales' face morphed into determination. If there was one piece of advice his mother would have told him, had she thought of it, it would be: do not, under any circumstances, provoke and fight a four hundred foot wailord. Nevertheless, Luffy did.

Sunny's head spun with all the attacks he could imagine Wailord could use to wipe Luffy out. All it would take is one well-aimed water attack…

Luffy dropped the mast and threw a gum gum bazooka at Laboon's face. Laboon let out a wail and all of a sudden, the cracked rocks started skittering around them.

Sunny called out to Luffy just a second before the rocks abruptly fought gravity, shooting towards the rubber captain. Luffy's eyes shifted to focus on the rocks at the moment before they hit, his weight shifting to move when two large rocks on either side crushing him between the rocks.

The crew all tensed as the rocks fell into the crashing water. Even Laboon seemed taken aback and opened his mouth with a _"Bwaaaaa?"_

"Shishishishi," Luffy's cheerful voice came from the side of the Red Line where he was dangling from a small hand hold, chunks of rocks in his hair. "You'll have to do better than that to crush me!" He backflipped Then he threw his arm back, twisting it as he went in a move Sunny had never seen from him before. He jerked his body forward, bringing his stretching arm to a stop, and propelling his spinning fist forward

"GUM GUM RIFLE!" he yelled. "LABOON, I'M YOUR RIVAL NOW, SO WAIT FOR ME TO CONQUER THE GRAND LINE!"

The attack was strong enough I could see Laboon's eyes roll back for a moment. Luffy landed on Laboon's head and continued. "I'm going to become King of the Pirates and then we'll come back, I promise."

Laboon's eyes watered and he started to moan.

_"_ _Okay, Strawhat, you won, I'll wait. But when you see my crew, who are still out there, help them to the end of the Grand Line—promise!"_

As Sunny stood there watching the exchange between his captain, who was crossing his arms and laughing, and the wailord, the latter shifted an eye towards the smaller pokemon. He understood, Sunny would see to it, but he had a strange feeling Luffy had understood too, somehow.

Luffy grabbed paints and started painting over Laboon's scars and wounds while the rest of the crew worried about the broken mast. Luckily, Usopp declared he could patch it up and started to frantically work, shouting at Luffy while he worked for hurting Kaya's ship.

Sunny took a nap like Zoro attempted to do before getting roped in to help. A lot had happened in one day for the small pokemon.

Eventually, Luffy finished a lopsided version of their Jolly Roger on Laboon's head, proclaiming he couldn't hit his head against the Line or the paint would smudge. And the rest of the crew had fashioned a metal plate to keep the mast aloft with Usopp proclaiming it "sturdier than ever."

It wasn't much longer after that that the crew decided it was time to sleep, and all but Zoro, on watch, and Sunny went down to the cabins.

Sunny picked his way across the red beach, finding an outcropping of rocks he could stand on. He sat there, watching the stars flicker in one by one, knocking small pebbles into the choppy ocean waves.

After a minute, Sunny saw Laboon's shape appear in the distance, spraying up water and submerging again. Sunny waited, looking for the massive shape, and eventually, he saw the large shape appear again in the much shallower water.

Laboon looked at him, the crew's Jolly Roger painted proudly on his forehead.

 _"_ _Sunny,"_ Laboon greeted warmly. It was as if Laboon could sense how much was running through his brain, and he was content to sit with him in silence to sort them.

For a moment, Sunny thought about what it would be like to stay with Crocus, and help him protect Laboon. To be around another pokemon, who understand each other almost empathically sometimes. But no, Sunny had a cause, Sunny had a _crew._ A sleuth he'd shared laughter and tears with, he foolish to even consider leaving their side.

But what about Laboon, who was left behind by his sleuth?

Sunny was quiet a long moment before speaking up to the whale, to one of his massive eyes only a dozen feet away from him. "That pirate you mentioned, what was his name?"

"His name is Brook."

* * *

The next day, Sunny was one of the last to rise, Crocus joined them for breakfast while Laboon hunted, or swallowed schools of fish and krill. After Laboon got back, Sunny busied himself by asking tons of questions about his home. He too remembered falling through a glowing circle to a world of water.

He thought of home, the place he hadn't thought of often in the past few weeks. _I'm not even from this world,_ he reminded himself, wandering a distance up the beach and into the nearby grasses in thought. As a pirate, any time on land had to be appreciated, and this clearing wasn't too different from the one he'd grown up in…

Sunny distracted himself from the poignant trail of thoughts when he found a pretty lilac to eat. Just as he'd finished his treat, his body went rigid as he placed the tremors underfoot to be something moving toward him. He lurched, spinning towards the possible threat, as not one creature, but two humans in the opposite direction from the ship approached.

The blue hair was unmistakable. It was Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 9, now standing only twenty feet from Sunny.

Sunny's head spun with half-framed plans. Had Ms. Wednesday repaired her fan yet? Even without it, he knew he couldn't take on both of them by himself, and he was too far to call out. And what did Mr. 9 have up his sleeve? Sunny hadn't seen him fight. They were clearly both hurt but not badly.

Ms. Wednesday held up her empty hands, sweating slightly and looked tense. She had a bandage on her burned hand.

"Stop, shhh, don't attack, it's okay," Ms. Wednesday took a step closer to Sunny, then another. Sunny rescued the distance between them by taking several steps back, only stopping when his back end hit a thick tree.

"Quuuu," Sunny warned, flame igniting in warning."

Ms. Wednesday took another step forward and crouched, putting her hand out. "See? I'm not going to hurt you, sorry, come here, it's okay."

The cyndaquil took a moment to balk. _Is she trying to befriend me or threaten me?_ He couldn't tell. The day before she had been all cold fury and focus and now she spoke in a soft voice and was trying to entice him to go over there _as if he could trust her._

Sunny growled in response as she hadn't picked up on his previous, more subtle warning. _She better get to her point. I'm not letting my guard down._

She was more appropriately cautious now. "I need to talk to your friends. Will you take us to them?"

A smile crossed Sunny's face. So he wouldn't have to sit here and deal with her doomed attempts at taming him without a pokeball. He gave her a nod, kept distance between them, and went straight for Zoro.

He was sleeping against the log of the now-expired campfire after his watch the previous night. Sunny gave him a firm headbutt to the side and Zoro woke up, instantly alert.

"Eh? Sunny?" The swordsman looked at his crewmate in annoyed confusion.

"Cynaquiiil," Sunny pointed his nose to the clearing behind him. Zoro was up and drawing his swords in a second. _We have visitors, Zoro._

"What the hell? They're back?" Zoro demanded. Sunny just shrugged, he wasn't feeling threatened of them now that he was back with Zoro.

As it turned out, because their ship was destroyed, they wanted a ride to the next island. Luffy had agreed, loudly proclaiming them their 'prisoners,' much to their terror.

Sanji, however, fawned over Ms. Wednesday with no discrimination-much to the annoyance of Nami and Zoro-and went to cook the poachers something in the kitchen.

Crocus approached Nami and Zoro with something in his hand, "Compasses don't work on the Grand Line, this is a Log Pose. It will get you to the next island on the Line, then will need time to set—a different amount of time depending on the island's magnetic field—before it can lead you to the next." He handed it to Nami. Then he hesitated for a moment, looking at Sunny.

"Take care of that one, he's sure to attract attention on the Grand Line. Treat him well and you'll see what amazing things he can do." Crocus gave Sunny a knowing smile and Sunny had to wonder what he had seen.

"Of course!" Nami squealed, holding the Log Pose, "I'll take care of them both!"

Soon after, Crocus waved them goodbye from the red sand beach, the sun making the water shimmer. "Look!" Usopp cried, pointing into the water.

Laboon's body was racing along just under the surface of the water, leaving a dark blue shadow and a stream of churning water along the surface. The crew ran to the side of the ship. Sunny stuck his head through the guardrail, holding onto one side. Laboon's head breached upwards a few hundred feet away as if he were swallowing the sky.

He wailing and released a massive hydro pump into the air, propelling a hundred feet in the air before dispersing like a fountain.

Sunny gasped as he marveled at the mist pluming in the air.

Nami cried out too, "A rainbow!" In the falling mist, in the clear and sunny day, a large shimmering rainbow spread out before them, a welcome gate into the new world. Laboon grinned at the Merry beneath it.

" _GOOOOOOOOOOOOODD LUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCKKKKKKKK!"_

And the Strawhats finished their first adventure on the marvelous Grand Line.


	12. Splinters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm not putting in the Shinx alternate version of this story that covers the first few chapters if Sunny were Shinx like my first draft had to avoid changing the flow of this. If you'd like to read it, it is chapter 12 of the BMS on fanfic! As a note, this will also mean the chapters will be off from here on. So if you switch which site you read, just add 1 chapter to the chapter you were on AO3 when you read on fanfic.

Sunny tried extra hard that day to spend time with his sleuth. When Nami poured through her book of maps (incomplete, she'd said), Sunny nudged his way into the kitchen, which lately Sanji had taken to keeping ajar. He was in the early preparation for a late lunch now that things had settled enough from being on the Grand Line for a few hours.

Sanji's eyes registered Sunny but instead of sitting at the table and asking for food, Sunny walked over to the counter, standing against the cabinet, positioned himself on his haunches and leaped straight up in the air, just grabbing onto the counter ledge and pulling himself up with a proud huff. Sanji, who had jerked forward slightly, up stopped as he was holding a paring knife, looked at his small crewmate quizzically.

Up there, it was easy enough to find the tea kettle hanging from a hook above and moving it down with his uncoordinated forepaws by tucking the large kettle under his chin as best he could.

Sanji tried to go back to peeling potatoes but set his knife down again in curiosity. Sunny rolled his eyes under his eyelids as he set it down with a clunk and scooted it toward the sink. Quickly, he figured out how to make the water go and gestured to it.

"You want me to make you tea?" Sanji asked, finally taking the kettle and filling it with water.

Sunny shook his head and pointed to himself. _He_ wanted to help. After all, he was the junior Lieutenant of Fire and he wanted to help, especially on the Grand Line. Sunny may not protect and lead the crew, or cook, or make things, or navigate, or be a great fighter, but he could care for them.

Maybe someday as strongly and bravely as Laboon did with his crew.

Sunny told Sanji as much as he stood there with a filled kettle. He scratched his head."You want to make the tea yourself? Well alright then." He brought it to the stove and Sunny jumped across the sink, stepped over the knife, and skirted the diced potato bucket to join him.

He wasn't entirely comfortable with an animal running around his counter, but Sunny was his crewmate, and it wouldn't be too much trouble to clean the countertop after he was finished. Especially seeing the determination on the small shrew's face, he was amused to note he looked like he was going into a fight.

He could forgive paws on the sanitized counter just this once, Sanji decided while preparing to switch on the gas for the stove when Sunny made a loud sound of protest that sounded a little like a cut off an alarm bell. The chef jumped and gave Sunny an unimpressed look. But Sunny just shook his head emphatically, and blew a small string-thin flame under the kettle, expanding as it hit the metal.

The blond's eyebrow rose and mouth fell open a bit. "I didn't—you can do that?" He shook off his surprise. "That's a useful trick."

He went back to peeling while Sunny heated the tea in breath-long bursts of the thin flame. Just as he was exhausting and starting to feel the dry sting in his throat, the kettle began to whistle gently, causing Sunny to jump in surprise and Sanji to spring to action, grabbing green tea leaves and steeping them.

"Well done," he said. The next four minutes, Sunny twitched impatiently until Sanji poured a cup of tea and offered it to him. Sunny shook his head, jumped off the counter and lead him to the door.

Puzzled, Sanji followed with the cup and kettle, smiling to himself, led Sanji to Nami. When she looked up at the chef, she said, "Oh, Sanji, did you bring me tea?"

The chef's mouth worked up and down a few times before he spoke. "Nami-swan not even this steaming tea could compare to your hotness! Ah—but _actually,_ Sunny made this all by himself, but if you want anything to go with your tea, I will bake it for you with love, Nami-swan!"

Nami accepted the cup and took a sip. "This is wonderful," she said with a content sigh.

Sunny grinned and jumped onto the pool chair with her, going over to inspect it. Nami lowered it to offer it to him, and Sunny took a delicate sip.

The large shrew sighed as well and Sanji retreated with a rare reserved smile as Sunny curled up at his dear Nami-swan's side.

* * *

The next morning, the pirates morning ritual felt completely different while being virtually the same. They woke up, washed up in the bathroom (Sunny giving himself a quick groom), then head to breakfast (oh, look, the two poachers, helping themselves to deviled eggs). After eating, everyone found activities while the prisoners sat together a distance away from the rest.

Usopp was concentrating on a tinkering project he was carrying around in a piece of cloth. Nami kept trying to come by, and Usopp would dart away and set up again across the ship. She gave up quickly and picked up a book.

Sanji stared longingly out into the water in the rare times he wasn't cooking or doting on the women. Zoro trained even longer and harder, even forgoing some of his naps for meditation with his swords. Even Luffy had a strange energy about him on the Grand Line.

* * *

"AHHH! We're going the complete wrong way!" Nami screamed. The second half of the day was much more challenging with all hands and paws on deck to try to navigate through the Grand Line's non-sensical magnetic field, errant weather patterns the even Sunny's Sunny Day couldn't dispell, and at least two` near-sinkings from rogue floating boulders or lighting strikes. Finally, things settled down enough for the crew to have dinner late in the night. Then, soaked, everyone but the lookout went to bed.

Sunny felt lonely and missed Laboon, and wished more than ever he could talk to the crew. He was suddenly struck by how intimidating everything was even with the crew he'd grown to love. He was even crossing what might as well be an ocean of magma to be with them.

But he hardly had another moment to think about it as his eyes slipped fully closed, and his damp fur rose and fell in time with gentle snores from the hammocks above.

_Sunny woke up in Peacha Cove, the now-unfamiliar filtered light shining through. It was approaching the heat of summer if the cracking pale grass under him was any indication. The tops of the trees had yellowed in the harsh sun, leaving the clearing a dry plain. Even the small lake had dried and receeded into a shallow fraction of its size. Grass pokemon migrated or hid during the worst hours, their own leaves wilting. For many, the hottest region of Johto summer was a time of hardship and hunger._ _Not so for a cyndaquil family._

_Around him, his sleuth was in motion. Typhlosion snoozed on the hot rocks under the sun, occasionally roaring gently at their kits. Two cyndaquil rolled over each other, nipping playfully. The paler cyndaquil dipped his head sheepishly and ran to the Typholosion with a long scar down her nose. A little ways away, a Quilava was splashing in the shallows of the dry lake, snapping up fry and small fish she found hiding in the silted water. Onshore, the darker cyndaquil squeaked in protest as droplets of water landed nearby, making Quilava look up, tossing a guppy up in the air and eating it with a crunch. Cyndaquil needed to be dry at all times, but Quilava were hardier and had no qualms about getting their paws wet if it meant getting a snack. Vesper was always more keen than most. And Mom and Dad sunning on the rock, their last hunt making them lazy._

_The larger cyndaquil was contenting himself now with widening a ratatta burrow he'd found. With a strange sensation of removal, Sunny looked from his past self to the paler color cyndaquil, his brother, Red, pressed to their mother's side. He felt weaker, more exposed, a ghost. His life before he knew misfortune, even before he became a pirate. He watched his mother lick a wound on her shoulder. This must have been after she'd gone to the town. She always came back bloody when she went near the town. He saw his younger self yawn and settle down for a nap and he had a sinking question—if he had the chance to go back and leave the Straw Hats, could he? It was painful to even think about leaving them._

_His vision went black and Sunny was back in Peacha Cove, not in the clearing, but now seeing from the perspective of his younger self, being held by the scruff my his mother as she ran through the early fall foliage. The dry underbrush crackled with embers as they were flanked on both sides with a growing wildfire. He squirmed in her grasp. Her mouth, paws, and chest were red that might have made her took scary if it wasn't just his mother. His father and siblings were nowhere in sight. He couldn't remember how they were separated, but he did remember a chase. The smoke was beginning to rise, hiding the sky. Sunny remembered the fear as it revisited his chest, knowing a fire this strong when he was so young, could smother and kill him. Sunny knew Vesper could make it, even if she was alone, but he desperately wondered where his little brother was, if he was with their father._

_Then, as he remembered, a figure appeared in front of him, floating, maybe a few feet tall. His mother dropped him onto the ground and he lay there, cowering, as she roared at the being in their path. The creature swept an arm in a circle silently. Suddenly, a searingly bright disc was below them, in every direction, spanning out far into the smoke. And Sunny and his mother were plummeting into the brightness, down, down, down, while the trees and rocks and fire stayed in place and white was all that was left._

Sunny sprung in the air with a quiet squeak, jerking his head in every direction to orient himself. He wasn't falling. He was on the floor of the boy's cabin. In the Merry. On the Grand Line, with his crew. His crewmates. The cabin. Everyone was sleeping. He caught his breath, shaking. Laboon. Had it been Laboon that had reminded him of his old world? It wasn't like him to dwell so viscerally in the past. Sunny felt the pang of loneliness in his chest erupt unbearably. His sleuth. Sunny heard something move overheard and peered up to see Luffy flip over with a yawn, and lean over, half off his hammock, with a small frown on his face.

"What are you doing, Sunny?"

Sunny shook his head, taking a moment to try to recollect his disoriented thoughts.

"Did you have a bad dream?" His captain asked. Sunny looked at him, but he was too disoriented to focus on him. Finally, he reached an arm down and scooped Sunny up, plopping him on his chest.

"You miss Laboon?" Luffy asked. "Will food make you feel better? Maybe not…" He rubbed his forehead in thought. "You want to see other guys like you right?"

Sunny nodded, rising and falling slightly with the boy's breathing. Maybe he didn't need to talk to the crew because Luffy listened with his heart instead of his ears.

"I could tell Laboon cared about you too, he wanted me to watch out for you. I could tell. Shishi…" Luffy abruptly shifted, eyes lidding. "Don't worry, Sunny, we'll play in the morning…" And he was out, snoring gently. Sunny had been shifted onto the side of the hammock, pressed against Luffy's side, his captain's arm draped limply over him. The fire type considered moving, but it felt good to be next to someone again.

If felt like home.

* * *

The ship's prisoners were beginning to get used to their captivity on the second sailing day. Ms. Wednesday was ordering off-menu, claiming the lounge chair (much to Nami's annoyance), and Mr. 9 had sunbathed in his boxers on the deck (though Ms. Wednesday had swiftly and effectively put an end to that).

The crew was having dinner around a crowded table, Sunny sitting on Usopp's lap to make room for "prisoner side of the table" which were the seats farthest from the cheese plate.

"You're really alright just being dropped off on the nearest island?" Nami asked.

Ms. Wednesday shrugged haughtily. "I know the next island set on the log pose will be Whisky Peak and that will be just fine."

Sanji refilled Nami and Sunny's drinks. "You're so confident Ms. Wednesday-chan!"

Nami glared at him while Sunny slurped up his tea in one breath, exhaling a smoke ring in delight. Usopp ooh'ed a little as the smoke drifted up, fading.

"But what is this Whisky Peak?" Usopp asked, bringing the conversation back on track.

Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 9 exchanged a look. "They're just an island that likes to celebrate, with lots of food, drink, and music," Ms. Wednesday said finally.

"Food?!"

"Heh, sounds alright to me," Zoro said.

Sunny wasn't sure why the mood changed so quickly, but everyone's spirits seemed to elevate at the thought of arriving at Whisky Peak—everyone except Ms. Wednesday and Mr. 9's. But food and drink? Sunny wasn't nearly as enticed as the others, after all, world-class chef Sanji already prepared all their meals, and Nami and Zoro drank like fish no matter where they were.

"How long until we get there, Nami?" Luffy asked.

Nami rubbed her hands together, a smile creeping across her face. "Tonight."

* * *

"Thanks for the ride!" Ms. Wednesday shouted, sitting on the railing, before flipping backward into the water followed by Mr. 9 and they both jetted off to shore. Sunny had to wonder how those two were such strong swimmers.

"Weird," Zoro shrugged, as Nami and Usopp positioned the ship into the channel into Whisky Peak to dozens of people waving and throwing confetti on either side. Waiting at the center of a large bridge was a man with curled long blond hair.

"Welcome to Whisky Peak, the Grand Line's Celebration Island!"

Sunny perked up a little more, standing up on his back legs next to Zoro to see more of what was happening.

"Celebrate with us while your Log Pose resets! We welcome all comers, even pirates!"

"Especially pirates!" One shouted from the welcoming crowd.

"Alright!" Luffy cheered. "Drop anchor!"

As soon as they stepped ashore, those with hands were presented with a drink with little umbrellas. When Zoro inevitably was hesitant to accept the tropical drink, it was dumped out without ceremony and in an instant, Zoro was holding a bottle of sake…with a little umbrella in it.

His face split into a wolfish grin.

Before Sunny knew it, the crew was whisked away into a large room completely prepared with a hibachi chef along with lines of food, stacks of drinks, and girls.

The townspeople were not just warm and friendly but seemed to thrive off their own hospitality. As the group was led into town, someone even offered to carry Sunny up a flight of stairs. Sunny looked at him for several moments before racing up to the top of steps himself.

Humans had reacted to him in many ways in his time in this world — fear, curiosity, aggression, but never disinterest. He didn't trust a group that had no reaction to him. He wasn't sure what it meant but it seemed like at least part of their welcome was for show.

 _Or maybe this was how people on the Grand Line were?_ A small part of him doubted as the crew was led into a room full of food and drink. A small band in the back began to play, much to Luffy's delight, and as the townspeople presented various offerings, and the party began in earnest.

In the hallway, two of their hosts exchanged words, one holding up a transponder snail. "Let our contact know they've fallen for the trap."

 


	13. No Such Thing As Free Sake

Despite Sunny's initial sense of overwhelm, he quickly shifted from hiding under a dusty armchair as the band started playing, to creeping over to Zoro, who was sitting at a table with Nami and Sanji, and climbing onto his shoulder. The party was coming to life all around him, with Usopp speaking animatedly with a group of men as they passed around beers and hung on his every word.

"I was wondering where you'd gone off to," Zoro grunted, pulling away from the sake gourd. Sunny stuck his nose into it with impetuous curiosity. He was repaid by an overwhelmingly strong but sweet smell filling his sinuses.

"Eh, you want to try?" The swordsman asked mischievously. Sunny, seeing all his crew, except Luffy, who was shoveling food into his mouth, had something to drink, began to nod when Nami shook her head sharply.

"Sunny, how about you give this a try?" She offered her bottle of red wine, helping him hold it as he gave it a tiny taste. He immediately recoiled at the sharpness but the berry flavor reminded him of the smell of pecha berries baking in the late summer heat. He gave Nami an approving nod and she poured a splash of wine into a sake cup for him before looking mischievously at the rest of the group. "Anyone want to play a drinking game?"

There was some brief squabbling over which game to play and some brainstorming on how to include their tacit crewmate when finally, Sanji suggested an adjusted version of Never Have I Ever where they would guess yes or no question on Sunny's longer turn and if they were right, Sunny would drink.

Again, Sunny wasn't sure he understood the rules, but he was happy to play and trusted his friends to help him.

Sanji asked first—"Do you have brothers and sisters?" Sunny took a sip for 'yes'.

"Have you left your island before?" Zoro asked, taking an out-of-turn swig of sake. The cyndaquil dawdled on that answer, he wasn't _sure_ how to explain that one. He couldn't, he realized, looking down at his reflection in the wine. The face of a pokemon in a group of humans. Finally, he decided on taking a sip.

Sanji and Nami exchanged a confused shrug. "Are you _from_ the Grand Line?" Nami asked. Sunny shook his head and Nami took a pull from the wine bottle. "Too bad," she sighed, "that could have explained it."

"Where you always able to use fire?" Sanji asked. "You didn't eat a strange tasting fruit, did you?"

Sunny drank at Sanji's first question and shook his head with a negatory 'quillll' on the second. Nami refilled his sake cup, and he felt his cheeks feel pleasantly warm as he looked over to see Usopp and Luffy arm in arm, swinging around the room.

"Alright, this is turning into an interview rather than a party game," Zoro groused.

Nami uncorked another bottle of red wine offered by a nearby party-goer. "Fine, then. Never have I ever been to another Blue." Sanji took a drink.

Zoro thought, drank, and said: "Never have I ever had a tattoo." Nami rolled her eyes and drank.

Sanji's turn. "Never have I ever had a devil fruit?" Just then Luffy passed by, catching a fragment of the conversation, grabbed Zoro's sake and took a short drink.

"BLEH! That's gross, Zoro!" He complained loudly, letting the sake spill out of his mouth.

"Don't drink it then!" Zoro scolded.

"Luffy, cut it out! And don't give Sunny alcohol either, he's just a kid!" Usopp protested. He was now playing chess with a host, using fancy fruit tarts as pieces and eating them as they were captured.

"Sunny wanted a taste!" Nami defended. Sunny hummed contentedly, he was still keeping an eye out, watching the strange people, but the strange tingle of dishonesty Sunny had sensed had dulled away. He was much calmer and felt better than he could remember being like his constant prey instincts were softened and he was finally allowed some confidence.

"Never have I ever been a quadruped," Nami winked at Sunny, who took another sip from his paw-sized cup.

Behind them, Luffy, egged on by hosts, had managed to tie himself into a pretzel.

"Never have I ever met anyone like our captain," Zoro said. They all looked at each other before laughing.

"That's no fun, now no one gets to drink!" Nami protested.

* * *

Sunny laid in Usopp's lap as he galed a story to a group of women (including a drinking nun?) who had joined the festivities. His story was getting more non-sensical and he stopped for long pauses before deciding what to say.

Sunny burped a bit of fire and curled up into a ball. Parties were fun, but they were exhausting.

Little did the fire pokemon know, the denizens of Whisky Peak were watching all of them carefully. One of the seemingly drunken hosts straightened up and pulled another villager into the hallway.

"Did you see that? What their pet did?" The first bounty hunter asked. She had a long brown bob and big, light eyes and a gentle smile that didn't match her words or voice.

"Uh, no? What, did he fetch?" The other bounty hunter, a tired-eyed man with stubble asked disbelievingly.

"Check the book," she hissed.

The man sighed and pulled out a folded and bound set of bounty poster and started thumbing through it. "It's worth like 100 B, man. Keep your eyes on the prize. "

The woman rolled her eyes and flipped to the next page. The fresh bounty poster had a drawn image of a shaded, inhuman figure, with a question mark inside of the shape.

 _Beasts of Supernatural Abilities — Wanted: Alive — 5 million berri on confirmation._ '

"I found one—it breathed fire! The thing is practically worth its weight in gold! We need the captain _and_ their pet! Come on, we need to be ready to move soon!" They headed back into the room where several of the crew where in states of stupor, with the red-head chugging wine and the long-nosed man passed out, and the captain half-awake, finishing off the last crumbs of the feast.

The first bounty hunter looked around. "Wait, where's their pet? Or the green-haired guy?"

They quickly searched the entire room. Sure enough, in the minute they'd been gone, the little payday had snuck away and so had the sake-lover.

"Shit! Do you think it caught on? Animal instincts?"

"We underestimated it! We need to move while we still can!" Wailed the second.

* * *

Sunny felt comfortable like he was dreaming until a tiny prickle of unease reached through his relaxed haze. He wasn't a psychic type, but he'd always had a minor sense for certain emotions, something his father had had too. It could make him jumpy, but it was also what led him to trust Luffy and the others. He slipped outside to feel the cool wind on his face as he had the strange sensation of being too warm.

_Hic._

He really had grown to love the smell of the sea. Sunny's eyes drooped even further and he gave a tiny yawn. He really had fun tonight, he felt bad for being so uneasy around the townspeople after they'd been so generous. _Hic._ Maybe he could afford to let down his guard, considering how strong Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji were.

"Sunny! What are you doing out here?"

The shrew pokemon jumped slightly and looked over from where he was sitting on the pavement looking at the quaint town, to Luffy, escorted by two of the townsfolk, who looked at each other, sweating slightly as they saw the fire-type.

"Cynda— _hic_!" Sunny greeted warmly, getting up to approach his captain and the townspeople without an ounce of suspicion. "Qu iii?" _Where are you going?_

"They ran out of food here, so I'm helping them get the rest of the meet from their restaurant! Wanna come?"

The first host jumped at the opportunity. "Yes, you should come!"

Sunny titled his head, but walked up to Luffy and accepted the lift onto his shoulder. _It's better to stay together,_ Sunny thought. _Just to be careful._

They walked in silence for a few minutes before Luffy piped up. "Ne, where's the food again?"

"Oh, very close now," the woman said, stopping where he stood and raised a hand in the air. Neither Luffy or Sunny had enough time to react properly before they felt the opaque shadow of a net descend onto them from a building above.

The net was weighted and instantly pinned Sunny against Luffy's shoulder. What Sunny wasn't expecting, however, was when Luffy's struggles abrupted stopped as he titled forward, falling flat on his face on the ground, eyes half-lidded.

Sunny, who had tried to stop Luffy's fall, had to pull himself out from under his limp captain, the nets barely allowing Sunny's compact form to stand up. The hosts were shouting now, something like 'we got them!' into their transponder snail. The other side crackled slightly and responded, 'we're having some difficulty with one of his crew, we'll call back when we finish him.'

The cyndaquil took advantage of the time they were occupied to slap Luffy across the face. "Cyn cyn!"

Luffy's eyes shifted to look at him and he gave a weak groan, twitching his hand. "It's sea prism stone, isn't it? That's mean, why would you attack us?" He whispered.

The first bounty hunter hung up the call she was on at looked at her captives. "Are you stupid? How do you pirates never know it's a trap? We're bounty hunters! We sell the bounties to the Marines and kill the rest! You crewmates are being taken care of right now! But don't worry, we'll bury them, just like the others!" The bounty hunter raised her hands, toward the massive cactus-like hills on either side of the town. Every cactus needle is actually a grave!" She laughed, her smile spreadingly snakishly across her face.

Luffy's eyes shaded behind his hat and he began to shake furiously under Sunny's paw.

The little cyndaquil felt the last dredges of that pleasant feeling fade away as his body burned so hot, a puff of vapor escaped his mouth and suddenly he could think clearly again. _Enemies,_ sirens flashed his mind. _Fight. Win. Burn._

It was all too much for Sunny. _They planned to capture or kill us this whole time,_ he thought. _They even knew how to weaken Luffy._

Sunny bit into the rope with his sharp back molars and shook it viciously. The rope didn't even fray. Channeling the same energy he'd used at Reverse Mountain, he blew a large mote of fire at the rope but was durable enough to only char lightly. He tried a weaker but more steady breath of fire, and to his relief, the rope was beginning to wear and catch fire. Unfortunately, the bounty hunter's smiles slipped off their faces as they saw Sunny make progress. One pulled out a bat, and the other stayed unarmed though he had a shotgun slung over his back.

"Idiot!" The woman hissed at the man. "It isn't affected by seastone, we need to stop it!"

She charged with his bat, intending to bash Sunny in the head, but the fire-type abandoned his progress on the charred ropes in favor of rolling out of the way. He continued to move under the net, dodging blows, careful not to get caught up in the netting.

The man finally lunged at him, intent on crushing him under his arms. Sunny let out an undignified squeak, sprayed burning embers into the man's face, and careened in the opposite direction. The man screamed out in pain, covering his watery, red eyes, and lashing out with his feet, tangling in the netting. The woman tripped over the netting as she tried to avoid hitting the other bounty hunter with her bat, tumbling over and landing next to Luffy's prone form.

The chaos was just enough for Sunny to start to shed his instinctual prey-driven panic and realize his first priority was getting out of the net now that the bounty hunters were temporarily occupied. He nosed his way under the net, enjoying the feeling of standing unrestrained once again.

The bounty hunter who had lost his sandal was the first to get back up. Sunny ran around, tackling the back of the bounty hunter's knee but he didn't buckle, instead lifting up his foot to try and slam down on Sunny. The fire-type hopped back, barely avoiding his shoe, and the man stepped forward and stomped with his un-sandaled foot. This time, Sunny took the blow. The man's foot slammed him flat against the gravel, popping the vertebrae in his back.

It was a small price to pay as Sunny's eyes opened to look up at the man before igniting with all his might. The bounty hunter fell to the ground screaming, his foot smoking.

A third bounty hunter had arrived on the scene, alarmed as he saw one bounty hunter writhing on the ground and the other just getting back on her feet and only one small opponent. Sunny stepped between the new opponent and his captain, flaring to warn him away.

The third man wasn't sufficiently impressed and swung at him with a weighted chain. Sunny ran to the side, narrowly avoiding the second and third lash as well before closing distance, where his weapon would be less versatile and bit hard into the man's heel.

The other bounty hunters falling over each other had given him an idea. _They say Alolan exeggutors have the farthest to fall…_ Sunny thought, _here goes nothing_. Once he'd secured his teeth into the man's skin, he pushed forward with all his might, sweeping the man's weight from under him and causing him to hit the ground, head slamming into the pavement.

Once he was grounded, Sunny had finally leveled the playing field—he blew out an ember at the man's chest, causing him to wake from his stupor and start patting out his chest with one hand, while the hand holding the chain jerked out.

Sunny would be the first to admit he'd underestimated the bounty hunter. He had very little time to reflect on that, however, when the chain struck him behind the ear, sending him flying through the air, and rolling to a stop a few feet in front of Luffy. Sunny lay there, blinking a few times as the chainsaw-loud buzzing filled his ears and he felt pain travel across his skull and down his spine as he tried to work out what happened.

One paw, another, another, one more. Before he knew quite what was happening, Sunny had gathered his sprawled limbs back under him. It was instinct, it was a pokemon's natural response. He hadn't been knocked out, and if a pokemon hasn't blacked out, they can and will continue to fight.

Sunny just had to figure out how to balance. As he stood up, he tipped over onto his side, head still spinning. Forming coherent thoughts was beyond him, but his one base thought was that he had to keep moving.

The bounty hunter who had fallen over himself near Luffy finally stood up, readied. As did the man Sunny had just attacked, favoring his injured leg. They held their bat and chain at the ready just in time for Sunny's vision to clear enough to see them.

The woman with the bat stepped forward, weapon held above her in both hands as she prepared to finish the fight. Then, she felt herself stop mid-step as if her ankle was caught in something. She jerked his foot and looked down. A hand was gripping her ankle with vice-like strength, though the boy holding onto her couldn't lift his head off the ground and was panting in exertion.

"Don't…don't touch my crewmate!" Luffy said through gritted teeth.

The bounty hunter only had the sense to be unnerved for a moment before she scoffed and kicked Luffy hard in the head, jarring his grip enough to pull away. Luffy fixed her a glare more firey than Sunny's ember but couldn't push his hand back toward her fast enough. The distraction was enough for Sunny to push through the smothering pain in his head to face their enemies and try to ignore the strange vibrations in the ground.

He charged at the bounty hunter Luffy had a hold of, moving fast enough to avoid another whip of the chain. He felt his stride quicken in the few bounds it took to reach the man, and by the time he processed what was in front of him, he was already there, his shoulder pushing into the bounty hunter's stomach, fire flaring, head pounding, as the man let out a shout of surprise, staggering back.

The pounding under him continued. Footsteps, he now knew, just about to be audible.

 _Cha-chik._ Sunny, who had been preparing another ember to send at the woman, looked over to see what the sound was. The man with the burned foot was sitting on the ground, shotgun aimed at Sunny.

"Qui?" Sunny couldn't help but say in surprise. _What are you going to do with that? You're twenty feet away._

"Don't mess with me! I'll blast you away, even if it means we only collect one bounty!" The man yelled. From the side street, a dozen more bounty hunters with various weapons came into sight. Sunny turned to the man holding the shotgun and took a step forward, growling. The man gritted his teeth and shut an eye, finger on the trigger.

"Sunny, no!" Luffy managed.

Then, from the side street, a dozen more bounty hunters with various weapons came into sight and Sunny and the captured Luffy were surrounded on all sides.

A bounty hunter with a big nose wearing a hawaiian shirt held up a sword. "Give up, rodent, or things are going to get ugly."

"Ugly? Trust me, they already are," a voice came from a building above them. Sunny jerked his head up along with all the bounty hunters. The crew's unofficial first mate was standing there, blood running from a gash on his forehead, holding his third sword in front of his mouth. His shaded steel eyes now fixed on Sunny. "Sorry I keep intruding on your fights, campfire. But somehow I worked up a mob in town, so we're going to need to finish this quick." A demon grin spread across his face as he took up the sword hilt between his teeth.

Sunny looked at him, and managed a small smile. " _I'll leave it to you, budew-face."_


End file.
